Obama seeking to exorcise Cold War ghosts in Moscow

Allies in World War II when the joint aim of defeating Nazi Germany overcame deep ideological divisions, the United States and Soviet Union became bitter nuclear-armed foes postwar.

The collapse of Communism and the emergence of an independent Russia raised hopes of a new era of harmony but efforts to bury the past were mired by disputes on defence and the balance of power in the post-Soviet world.

The back-slapping bonhomie of the 'Boris n' Bill show' under charismatic presidents Yeltsin and Clinton — which once saw the Russian reduce his U.S. partner to tears of laughter — failed to eliminate the lingering distrust.

And while George W. Bush famously professed to have sensed “the soul” of his ex-KGB counterpart Vladimir Putin, his presidential psychoanalysis did not foresee bruising disputes over missile defence and ex-Soviet states.

It is in this context that Obama will meet youthful Kremlin chief Dmitry Medvedev and Putin, now a strongman prime minister, with the aim of “resetting” relations after the turbulence of the Bush years.

Robert Legvold, Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, said the relations had “gone off the tracks” over the last decade and then “hit an embankment” with Russia's August war with Georgia.

“The new administration has put the train back on track but the tracks are very shaky and this process is still vulnerable to detours, delays and setbacks,” he warned.

For Konstantin Kosachyev, the chairman of the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee, “the Cold War is ending but it has not ended.” “For it to end we have to convert words into deeds.”

As if to emphasize that Cold War specters remain in Moscow, the Russian foreign ministry this week held a major ceremony to mark the approaching 100th birthday of the late Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko. The diplomat — who served in his post for almost three decades — was known in the West as “Mr Nyet” (Mr No) for his notorious intransigence.

According to Dimitri Simes, president of the Washington-based Nixon Center, there also remain many officials in the Pentagon and U.S. national security council whose ideas about Russia are rooted in the past.

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