Biden’s New Moscow Envoy Should Look to Peace-Broker Roosevelt for Inspiration, Professor Says
© Sputnik / Maxim Blinov
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On Wednesday, the US Senate voted to confirm Lynne Tracy, presently the US ambassador to Armenia, in her new appointment as US ambassador to Russia. Her appointment comes at a low point for Moscow-Washington relations, with US sanctions seeking to strangle the Russian economy as US aid prolongs a bloody conflict in Ukraine.
That same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came to Washington and delivered a far different message from US President Joe Biden, who stood alongside him. Biden predicted Zelensky would be prepared to negotiate with Russia to end the 10-month-long conflict that has killed 100,000 Ukrainians, according to US estimates, but instead, the Ukrainian leader denied the possibility of peace with Moscow. The US Congress is preparing to pass a massive new $45 billion aid package that would double the money given to Kiev this year; in fact, the measure has already cleared the US Senate.
John Tures, political science professor at LaGrange College in Georgia, told Sputnik that Tracy “checks all the boxes” for being a good envoy in Moscow, but the real test will be whether she can improve the dismal US-Russia relationship and help facilitate an amiable end to the conflict in Ukraine before it consumes all of Europe and beyond.
“When I look for quality in an ambassador, I look to see if he or she has relevant experience and knowledge, and can get along with others, and isn't some party hack or wealthy donor (and yes, America has had some of those in the past),” he noted.
“Lynne Tracy checks all the boxes for being an excellent nominee. She's got the knowledge in her educational background, and the experience not just in being an ambassador, but being in the right region. Experience working with the Armenians should help Ambassador Tracy in her new role. She's been nominated by presidents of both parties, and was confirmed by a much wider margin than her predecessor, who was more associated with one party.”
Tures said Biden needed “the right person for the job,” since his pick could be “the most consequential” since the Cold War ended in 1991.
“Definitely this administration needed the right person for the job, given her education, experience and ability to work with multiple sides. She's not a partisan or a prominent donor, so this pick was about professionalism,” he said.
However, qualifications are one thing, but practice is another. Tracy will have a mountain of tasks before her, not the least of which is finding a solution to the conflict in Ukraine that doesn’t involve nuclear weapons or an all-out brawl between NATO and the Russian Federation.
“In addition to helping state the US position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and where NATO stands, Ambassador Tracy will be asked to help negotiate the release of Paul Whelan, and may be called to work a solution through a third party, so knowledge of other regions might help here. I am sure [outgoing] Ambassador John Sullivan must have done a good job for the USA, or President Biden would not have kept him, but the new ambassador will be called upon to do more for helping resolve the regional conflict.”
“Ambassador Tracy should make it clear that the US should not require regime change or acts that would break up Russia, a major concern in Russia I am sure. I spoke with a pro-Russian professor who articulated this to me, and I had not heard that concern in the USA media. But now I am seeing similar concerns by pro-Russian Republican elected officials, which may be leading to an existential misperception,” he said.
“The best way to resolve the conflict is to go back to the pre-2022 state of affairs, so this conflict does not go nuclear or bleed both combatants militarily and economically dry. At this point, both sides should seek that deal. It's not worth [weapons of mass destruction] being used for Ukraine to retake even Crimea at this time, or the USA to support that.”
“Long ago, US [President] Teddy Roosevelt won the Nobel Prize by helping broker a peace for the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. The USA should return to that role of broker, even if it means Ukraine doesn't get everything they want.”
