By Susan D’Agostino, June 17, 2021
US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Geneva yesterday during a time when US-Russian relations have reached a post-Cold War low. Biden arrived with no shortage of grievances concerning Russia, including interference in US elections, human rights abuses, the buildup of troops on the Ukrainian border, the jailing of anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, the SolarWinds cyberattack, and ransomware attacks. Putin, of course, had his own set of complaints about alleged US human rights violations and cyberattacks.
While few experts expected significant gains in those areas, some expressed modest hope that the two leaders might revive nuclear arms control discussions that have otherwise foundered in recent years. “Even the Cold War leaders never failed to talk about nuclear disarmament,” Konstantin Sonin, a Russian scholar living in the United States, wrote recently in the Bulletin.
Biden once accused Putin of not having a soul, to which Putin reportedly responded, “I see we understand each other.” Here, top nuclear experts offer a variety of viewpoints on whether the two presidents managed to understand each other enough at the Geneva summit to identify a possible path towards security and peace.
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It is good that the speechlessness in terms of strengthening strategic stability and minimizing risk is ending. The only thing I find alarming is such assessments as Mr. Miller's saying "There's a new sheriff in town." This attitude is the source of all problems in the world and especially in the relations between USA/NATO and Russia or China. The U.S. is not the global police force and POTUS is not a world sheriff. Until this changes, the result will always be that there will be tensions and denials. Mankind has to deal with three really existential problems: Nuclear weapons. Climate crisis. Disruptive technologies. Dealing with them requires deep cooperation and recognition of the interests of others. Not the alliance of democracies or a cold war 2.0. And certainly not a self-appointed sheriff.