In the last months, the diplomatic relation between Russian and the United States has become tense and unstable, mainly because Russia and China vetoed the U.N. intervention on Syria. This really angered the United States, but Vladimir Putin’s recent election to the Russian presidency has not helped to solve the problem and calm things down.

Russia is the U.S.’ 20th largest trading partner in goods. The goods trade between the two countries is reported as $42.9 billion USD in total. U.S. exports to Russia were $8.3 billion dollars. U.S. goods imports from Russia totaled $34.6 billion last year. Compared to China, Russia is a small economic partner to the United States, but a very important one in other areas.

In the 19th century, Russia sold Alaska to the United States. Russia also supported the U.S. during the civil war. In fact, the 19th  century was a golden period for U.S.-Russian diplomatic relations. But the  20th century told us a completely different story. It witnessed the worst  case scenario in the diplomatic relations between the two countries: the Cold War, which was a mainly political conflict between the Soviet Union, a union of countries in which Russia was the biggest, and the United States. Even though the Cold War was going on, the U.S. and Soviet astronauts went to space together in the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission.

The Soviet Union didn’t last forever, ending in 1991. After this, relations between the two countries got better, but, like with every country, there are a lot of aspects in which both governments do not agree. This is completely normal considering both countries come from two totally different backgrounds.

Vladimir Putin returned to the Russian presidency in March, which will definitely affect the good relations that President Obama had with his precursor, Dmitri Medvedev, who was in power from 2008 to 2012. Medvedev even declared once that “these were perhaps the best three years of relations between Russia and the United States over the last decade.”

But now Putin, a former K.G.B officer, is back on the game. The man became President for the first time in 2000 and remained so until 2008 when he gave power to his chosen one, Medvedev. Yet, most analysts agree he never stopped ruling.

The first problems between the U.S. and Russia have already reappeared, and the Syria issue has been the trigger. The State Secretary Hillary Clinton accused Putin in June of shipping attack helicopters to Syria that President al-Assad could use to continue with his massacre of civilians. The Russian government responded that they only have sent weapons that can be used for self-defense.

But the problematic relations between both countries really started in February, when Russia and China vetoed the United Nations’ action on Syria. This action caused fury on the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. The U.S. ambassador Susan Rice told CNN that “those that have blocked potentially the last effort to resolve this peacefully … will have any future blood spill on their hands.”

But President Obama made an announcement in June to try to calm things down. After a meeting with President Putin, he expressed the tensions can be solved although they have disagreements. Concerning the Syria issue he declared that President Putin agreed that a political process should be created in Syria in order to avoid a civil war.

Image Courtesy of  World Economic Forum

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New Hampshire leaders from the business, military, faith, and non-profit communities came together for a town hall meeting with Republican Presidential campaigns on America’s role in the world and the importance of development and diplomacy, alongside defense, to our security and prosperity.

Hosted by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College, and honorary host Senator John E. Sununu , Four Star General Anthony Zinni , USMC (Ret.), former Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command, began the town hall by stressing how critical economic development programs and fighting global poverty are to our national security.

“American engagement has always been indispensable, and never more so than today,” General Zinni said.  “That is why the citizens of New Hampshire must call on all the candidates for President of the United States to embrace a smart power strategy that invests in all the tools of our foreign policy, including development and diplomacy, to keep us safe.”

Following General Zinni’s address, WMUR’s Tom Griffith moderated a panel of high-level surrogates for Republican Presidential campaigns:  Paul Bonicelli for Governor Perry; former Executive Councilor and State Representative Bill Cahill for Senator Santorum; former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman for Governor Romney; State Senator Jim Forsythe for Congressman Paul; former Reagan National Security Advisor Bud McFarlane for Speaker Gingrich; and, Randy Schriver for Governor Huntsman.

“I have seen firsthand that strategic investments in U.S. global leadership are among the most efficient and effective ways to keep us safe and create jobs,” said Steve Duprey , CEO of Duprey Service Company. “It is my hope that our nation’s leaders, whether they represent New Hampshire in Congress or are running for President, will see the value as well.”

“New Hampshire residents will play a critical role in selecting the next President of the United States, and they have called on elected leaders to support our development and diplomacy programs to keep us safe and create jobs,” said USGLC Executive Director Liz Schrayer . “With just weeks to go before ballots are cast, we call on all Presidential candidates to stand up for a smart power approach to U.S. foreign policy.”

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