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American Morning
U.S., Russia Sign on Nuclear Arms Reduction
Aired May 24, 2002 - 08:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: America and Russia spent the last half of the 20th century locked in a Cold War. The fear of a nuclear strike was common enough that schoolchildren were taught to duck and cover in the event of an attack. But in the last decade, the political compass has swung 180 degrees and now, just a few hours ago, President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a nuclear arms reduction agreement.
And CNN senior analyst Jeff Greenfield is here this morning to provide us some perspective on what the heck is going on here with this relationship.
Good morning.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
ZAHN: Are you surprised by this new relationship?
GREENFIELD: Well, as one of that generation that used to duck and cover under our school desks to ward off a nuclear war. I always wondered how strong those desks must have been built.
The idea of the president and the leader of Russia signing a peace treaty is something out of a Joan Baez folk song. I'm also surprised, I guess, because so much would have been, so much of the foreign policy of 50 years was almost solely driven by the Cold War. It's why we had a Marshall Plan, to keep Western Europe from being tempted by the Soviets. That's why we had NATO. All of our foreign aid efforts in Africa and Latin America was because Moscow was up to tricks to try to win over the Third World.
Ronald Reagan, when he was running for president in the start of the 1980 campaign, told "The Wall Street Journal" if it weren't for the Soviet Union, there wouldn't be any hot spots in the world. Now, that proved a little bit simplistic, but it's how a lot of people thought back then.
ZAHN: So there obviously are a lot of good reasons why you want better relations between Russia and America. But what, in your estimation, is the reason for this latest embrace?
GREENFIELD: Well, there are two things. One is the implosion of the and then the wiping out of the Soviet Union. One of the things Reagan also said was free nations don't make war on each other. And so it's just a lot easier to be friendly with a country when they're not dedicated to some kind of world crisis.
But clearly, September 11 was a driving force. George W. Bush in the 2000 campaign was very skeptical about Russia and Putin. He said that we shouldn't be embracing him that easily, you know. Putin might be leading a group of people who were kind of bankrupting Russia, taking money, a kleptocracy.
ZAHN: Sure.
GREENFIELD: Very critical of the military campaign in Chechnya -- September 11, if you just look at a map of the world, look where Russia is, look where Afghanistan is, look where the Central Asian Muslim republics are, that's a lot of the reason.
ZAHN: The president put a lot of heat on President Putin today about Russia's relationship with Iran. I'm wondering how you see this relationship between Russia and the United States, given the Iranian equation playing out.
GREENFIELD: Well, look, it's part of what I meant by saying that you don't need an international Soviet Union to have hot spots. The president has defined Iran as part of the axis of evil -- and whatever that means, the idea that, again, look at a map: Look where Russia is, look where Iran is, and you understand why he is sort of cautioning Putin do not play footsies with this country because our interests in Iran are to try to restrain them from aiding Hezbollah in the Middle East.
I mean it is like a three-dimensional chessboard. And the fact that Russia is no longer a communist country doesn't mean that we don't have issues with them. You know, once, somebody once said in a foreign policy you don't have friends, you don't have enemies, you just have interests. And it doesn't mean, the end of the Cold War doesn't mean that our interests and Russia's interests are always going to be the same.
ZAHN: Thanks for dropping by. Have a great holiday weekend.
GREENFIELD: I will.
ZAHN: Fine driving, walking.
GREENFIELD: And you know what? If I don't have to drink eight glasses of water a day, I'm going to have a lot more time on my hands, Paula.
ZAHN: We're all saying that. That's all I do all morning long is drink water.
GREENFIELD: Yes.
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