Igor Ivanov, former Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs (1998-2004) and former Secretary of the Russian Security Council (2004-2007), is currently President of the Russian Council on Foreign Affairs, and a member of the Editorial Board of Russia in Global Affairs.
Russia has at least one tactical advantage over the other leading players. We are at the beginning of a new political cycle, and therefore have the advantage of medium-term planning – at least for six years ahead. So why shouldn’t Russia try to spearhead the looming intellectual breakthrough?
The hopes of the early 1990s for a breakthrough to a new, safer world order have not yet been realized. The world’s future depends on the way the international community chooses to ensure its security.
Russia has at least one tactical advantage over the other leading players. We are at the beginning of a new political cycle, and therefore have the advantage of medium-term planning – at least for six years ahead. So why shouldn’t Russia try to spearhead the looming intellectual breakthrough?
The hopes of the early 1990s for a breakthrough to a new, safer world order have not yet been realized. The world’s future depends on the way the international community chooses to ensure its security.
When the Baltic countries entered NATO and the European Union a couple of years ago, many thought it was the end of the centuries-old "red line." Euro-Atlantic organizations had crossed into the former Russian and Soviet empires.
In September 2004, the Russian city of Novgorod hosted an international conference entitled Russia at the Turn of the Century: Hopes and Reality. Its organizers were the RIA Novosti news agency, the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, Russia in Global Affairs, and The Moscow Times.