By Mark Adomanis, Contributor It shouldn’t exactly come as a shock that I strongly disagree with David Kramer, the head of Freedom House, one of the highest-profile proponents of the Magnitsky bill, and a staunch advocate of “morality”  in foreign policy. Kramer recently contributed to a debate run by The American Interest, where he said the following: Furthermore, Graham assumes that Russian policy is driven by national interests when in reality it is more often—albeit not always—driven by the narrow and even personal interests of a ruling clique that is losing influence and is increasingly viewed as illegitimate by segments of Russian society. The Russian regime’s top priority is preservation of power with the objective of perpetuating Putin’s position. This makes “strategic dialogue” with the Kremlin virtually impossible, since American policy is, by contrast, driven by an attempt to implement priorities backed by a substantial part of the U.S. electorate and tested in the light of public criticism…when Putin and his clique obstruct international efforts to uphold democratic standards and human rights or prevent atrocities (as in Syria), they make themselves marginal players on the world stage. This is an argument that you almost always encounter among the most outspoken democratists, that the real reason we have foreign policy disagreements with Russia is not because the United States and Russia have inherently different interests but because Russia is run by a particularly nasty and selfish gang of people who have hijacked the ship of state for their own selfish ends. Although made by Serious people, in Serious publications, writing in sober academic tones, this is actually a remarkably bold, indeed radical, argument. Considering the different positions occupied in the international system by the United States in Russia, considering their different geography, economics, culture, history, and religion, it would be nothing less than a miracle if their interests actually coincided to the degree that Kramer is suggesting. But I digress. …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest