It is an unfortunate truism that relations between the United States and Russia depend a great deal on the interpersona l connection between the two countries. Of course, personalities do not determine foreign policy as much as national interests or even domestic politics do, but they do shape the way national interests are defined and stratagems devised. In this case, the presidents of both countries have a fairly free hand in setting foreign policy, and there are few institutional and social networks between the two countries that could anchor their diplomatic relations on firmer ground. So the relationship between the leaders has been very important. […]
Memo #:
329
Series:
1
PDF:
PDF URL:
http://www.gwu.edu/~ieresgwu/assets/docs/ponars/pm_0329.pdf
