The Foreign Service Journal, December 2011

10 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 1 Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad (for which Beijing has begun to receive Russian oil via a direct pipeline). Mos- cow had also cozied up to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, signing a con- tract that will supply arms to Venezuela. Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Michael Posner visited Moscow, Nizhniy Novgorod and Kazan fromOct. 10 to 15 to discuss a range of human rights and democracy issues. “The so-called ‘reset’ has been effective in arms control, security issues and stronger economic ties, but I don’t think there’s been any meaningful progress on human rights and democ- racy issues,” he stated afterward, ac- cording to the Moscow Times . But, Posner added, “I don’t think there’s [only] one way to push the Russ- ian government harder. Some of it’s private diplomacy, some of it’s public. Some of it’s reconstituting theMcFaul- Surkov Civil society Working Group.” The bilateral working group is headed by McFaul and Russian Presidential Administration First Deputy Chief of Staff Vladislav Surkov. Topics in its portfolio include migration, prisons, child protection and corruption. Although most Republicans reject the idea of a Russian “reset,” support for McFaul’s nomination was biparti- san. Even hawkish Republicans like Robert Kagan have expressed their ap- proval. In an op-ed published prior to Mc- Faul’s hearing, Kagan argued for a waiver of the Jackson-Vanik Amend- ment and implementation of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011, sponsored by Sen. Ben- jamin Cardin, D-Md. The act would impose a visa ban and asset freeze on Russian officials responsible for serious human rights abuses. While many conservatives dispute the feasibility of continuing a reset pol- icy that they argue never existed in the first place, the Obama administration continues to defend its hopes that the return of Putin will not mean a cooling of U.S.-Russia relations. Commenting on the impending leadership change, White House Press Secretary Jay Car- ney noted: “The fact is that the presi- dent has pursued a reset in our relations with Russia not with a partic- ular leader but the government of Russia. And the progress that we’ve made, which has been well recognized, has come with the entire Russian leadership. That includes President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin.” For their part, liberals such as Matthew A. Rojansky of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace acknowledge that, while “far from the democratic ideal,” Putin’s return to the presidency does not doom the reset. — Laura Pettinelli, Editorial Intern Good (Government) Guys Do Win, Sometimes Writing in the Oct. 11 New York Times , Adam Nossiter reports that Pedro Verona Rodrigues Pires, the for- mer president of Cape Verde, has won this year’s Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leader-ship ( www.moibrahimfoundation.org/en ). Beginning in 2007, the Ibrahim Foundation has given the annual award, worth $5 million, to democrati- cally elected African presidents who have stayed “within the limits set by the country’s constitution, left office in the last three years, and demonstrated ex- cellence in office.” Announcing the selection, Mr. Ibra- him— a Sudan-born telecommunica- tions mogul whose goal is to promote C Y B E R N O T E S WWW.AFSA.ORG When contacting an advertiser, kindly mention the Foreign Service Journal. AFSA Insurance Plans hirshorn.com/afsa AFSA FAD afsa.org/CFCFAD.cfm AFSPA Afspa.org AKA Hotel residences stay-aka.com Clements International clements.com Georgetown University Press press.georgetown.edu J. Kirby Simon Trust kirbysimontrust.org SDFCU sdfcu.org WJD wjdpm.com Woodlands www.thewoodlandsccrc.com