RAGA was represented by its president Vladislav Krasnov, Washington DC, and Gilbert Doctorow, an American scholar and business leader currently residing in Brussels, Belgium.
After a day of reports and discussions at President Arbat Hotel on September 8, next day the FORUM moved to MGIMO, the prestigious Moscow State University of International Relation, the chief incubator of Russian diplomats. The main agenda here was Gilbert Doctorow's proposal to re-create the Committee on East-West Accord which managed to keep the nuclear-armed MAD antagonists talking and soothing the US-USSR relations during the worst years of the Cold War.
The consensus was not to play the Blame Game, but to propose something tangible and acceptable to both sides. Krasnov was all for Doctorow's proposal. He suggested a better clickable name for it: The USA+Europe+Russia Commons. "We should stress not the difference of which there are many but commonalities between us," Krasnov said.
"Our guiding symbol should be neither the Russian double-headed Eagle, nor the American Bold Eagle, not any other European bird of pray. For better or worse, all of them are birds of pray. We should not project belligerence to any country. When I travelled across the States as a contract interpreter for US Department of State with various groups from the Former Soviet Union, everybody liked best the state symbol of Louisiana, the Pelican the Provider who teaches the needy how to fish. I am convinced that the Bird of Europe, no matter how united or divided, will not stop being a bird of pray. Nor will it fly very far unless it relies on both of its wings, its Western extension, the USA, and its Easter extension, Russia."
The Forum adopted by acclamation Gilbert Doctorow's proposal with the proviso that he will pay special attention to all peace-lovingpracticable initiatives of business, culture, educational and artistic communities and grass-root groups from the USA, Europe and Russia.
At the end, Krasnov thanked Eduard Lozansky and his wife Tatiana for their 25-year long effort for bettering US-Russia relations and presented him his new book, Novaya Rossia: ot kommunizma k natsionalnomu vozrozhdeniyu. "In fact, this book was originally written and published in the United States in 1991 under the title "Russia Beyond Communism: A Chronicle of National Rebirth". It came out as part of a series of publications of the Center for Contemporary Russian Studies founded by Professor Nicolai Petro (he was also a Forum participant)at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. At the time when the best and the brightest of the West were beholden to Communism andGorbachev's half-hearted reforms, we wanted to introduce Americans to a new emerging RussiaI that is neither the extention of the Soviet Union, nor recreation of Russian Empire, but a new political, social, spiritual and economic entity that has more in common with the USA and EC than with either the USSR or Russian autocracy, said Krasnov.
RAGA will be happy to serve as a conduit for all pacific and practicalbe suggestions these countries can offer.
By Vladislav Krasnov Ph.D.
President of RAGA
Video source: http://www.1tv.ru/news/polit/267221
Disclaimer: All statements in this report are an opinion. Act at your own risk.
Report by RAGA News