The Foreign Service Journal, March 2003

F O C U S O N P O W E L L key measure of any human endeavor is the quality of the peo- ple involved in it. Whenever I feel inclined to criticize American for- eign policy — which is quite often — one thought that gives me pause is that it is run by people like Secretary of State Colin Powell. In retrospect, his appointment by President George W. Bush should have caused much greater restraint of pen and tongue on the part of those who initially tended to under- estimate the current administration. Probably nowhere have expectations been exceeded more than in American relations with Russia. After a somewhat rocky start a real part- nership has emerged, especially since the tragic events of Sept. 11. The early fears (one can’t help feeling sometimes that they were more like hopes, at least in some quarters in Washington and in Europe) of a new U.S.-Russian confrontation developing over issues such as the U.S. withdrawal from the ABM treaty, NATO expansion and, more recently, the situation around Iraq have failed to materialize. Secretary Powell once told me in an interview that in his opinion the relationship between our two countries was undergoing “a seismic sea change”; I’ve been gratefully using that mixed metaphor ever since. Historic Transformation Surely, the credit for this his- toric transformation goes mostly to Presidents Putin and Bush. Since their first, famous “soul-searching” encounter in Slovenia much has been written about their rapport. But Moscow and Washington also have another channel of communication — far less celebrated but probably as important in prac- tical terms — that between Secretary Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Anyone familiar with it knows that it is primarily through this mechanism that the thorniest issues between the two sides are thrashed out before they can become problems. Given the American dominance in today’s world, it’s easy to see why this open line to Washington is probably the most important and valuable among Mr. Ivanov’s diplomatic tools. But Secretary Powell also clearly cher- ishes this relationship. There could be no mistake about it if you heard him — as I did — enthuse about his regular con- tacts with “my friend Igor.” Sometimes they speak to each other several times a day. In fact, these occasions have become so common that both sides have apparently lost track of the number of phone conversa- tions, and even meetings, between the two ministers (they invariably get together at all the international forums they both attend). Some diplomats say that Mr. Powell probably talks to Mr. Ivanov more than to his counter- parts from NATO countries and other “traditional” U.S. allies. To be sure, some of their pre- decessors also enjoyed solid pro- fessional relations. But many believe that the personal chem- A C ONFIDENCE W ITHOUT A RROGANCE T HE U.S.-R USSIA RELATIONSHIP HAS BECOME A PARTNERSHIP , AND THE PERSONAL CHEMISTRY BETWEEN C OLIN P OWELL AND I GOR I VANOV HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH IT . B Y A NDREI S ITOV 22 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A R C H 2 0 0 3