Many chances that presented themselves to the world after the end of the "Cold War" and collapse of the Soviet Union were lost. Such is the opinion of the last U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union Jack Matlock. He said as much in Washington, at the presentation of his new book, titled "Superpower Illusions: How Myths About the Cold War's End Have Poisoned US-Russian Relations."
I interviewed Ambassador Matlock on Red Square in Moscow, where he stayed as a Guest of Honour at the parade that was dedicated to the 1917 October Revolution anniversary. At that time he impressed me as a person assessing soberly the relations between Moscow and Washington. Matlock took part in the meetings between the two presidents - Gorbachev and Reagan. He saw much and knew much about the end of the "Cold War". Therefore, I'm sure that his opinion and assessments are of great importance for both the current and future relations between the USA and Russia.
The former U.S. ambassador blames, mainly, Washington for the lost opportunities. The new U.S. leadership failed either to preserve or multiply those positive changes, which were achieved by that time. The White House, he says, found itself the winner in the "Cold War" and decided that now everything was allowed: to attempt to bend democratic but weakened Russia to its will and to attack and bomb Serbia without the United Nations' sanctions. In other words, those in Washington have arrived at the conclusion that they can completely dominate the world, which, in their erroneous opinion, has turned into a unipolar world. Naturally, Jack Matlock believes, NATO's threatening expansion Eastward at the expense of countries, which surrounded Russia, triggered a negative reaction in the country. Not only Moscow but also the overwhelming majority of countries strongly denounced the USA's war against Iraq, which America began, bypassing the United Nations and against the world public opinion.
The administrations of the former U.S. presidents, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, and also the Clinton administration, despite all their curtseying to Russia, considerably complicated U.S.-Russian relations and ruined the USA's image in the world. However, now America is ruled by President Barack Obama, who pressed the "reset" button in the relations with Moscow - what the Kremlin actually urged the White House to do for so long. Therefore, it's of great importance today not to lose those "sprouts" of trust, understanding and benevolence, which have started appearing in the relationships between Russia and the USA. Of course it would be good for the U.S. leadership to draw conclusions and to learn a lesson from its own mistakes. It would be very useful for representatives of those political circles overseas, who play the pivotal role in decision making in the field of foreign policy and international relations, to study carefully both the opinions and assessments of the last U.S. ambassador to the former Soviet Union. This would be beneficial for the USA itself, for Russia and for the whole world.
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