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#7
Newsday
November 19, 2001
Editorial
Bush & Putin: Personal Warmth Isn't a Foreign Policy

For all the warm statements and obvious good personal feelings between President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader went home without an agreement on how to deal with the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

Certainly Bush and Putin have a good thing going. Behind the words and gestures of comity seems to be a genuine recognition by both sides of a possibility for crafting a new relationship - one that would benefit both Moscow and Washington. And these good feelings should give impetus for both sides to find a way to resolve their differences over tough issues, such as missile defense.

Still, the Bush administration continues to threaten that it will withdraw from the treaty next year so that it can test aspects of a missile-defense system. If this is a negotiating ploy, fine. But there are enough hard-line zealots on missile defense on Bush's team that the administration may wind up carrying out those threats.

Experts say that the administration could structure tests so that they don't violate the treaty. The administration ought to be looking at that possibility. The potential benefits of a fundamentally improved relationship with Russia far outweigh the very uncertain benefits of a missile-defense system.

And for all of Bush's and Putin's good cheer last week, Bush wrongly gives the impression that he and Putin have just broken through the ice of the Cold War. That happened more than 10 years ago, thanks to his father, the first President Bush, and Mikhail Gorbachev. What we are witnessing now is a second chance at making the relationship between Moscow and Washington work.

The first 10 years of the relationship foundered because of the difficulties of achieving economic reform in Russia, as well as diplomatic missteps by the leaders of both countries. The lesson ought to be clear: Good feelings aren't enough. Ultimately a positive relationship depends on substance, not atmospherics.

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