By John Ballard
At least in the opinion of Julia Ioffe.
...there seems little chance that the latest, biggest document vomit will derail America's largely productive relationship with Moscow, an achievement that Barack Obama can justifiably flaunt as perhaps his sole untarnished triumph as president. [Ouch!] The official response has ranged from strong condemnation to disdain -- "imaginary Hollywood characters do not require comment," Medvedev's spokeswoman said, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the cables "amusing reading" -- and this, given both sides' interest in not rocking the reset boat, is also not a surprise.
In addition to the fact that much of the information in the cables -- even the intertwining of the Russian police and organized crime -- has been widely reported in the Russian press, officials on both sides say they weren't really caught off guard. "When the U.S. found out what would be published, they got in touch, they warned the respective governments and asked not to make this into a big deal," says Sergei Markov, a Russian parliamentarian who specializes in foreign policy. "The authors of these cables are not exactly policymakers. I think the Russians see and know the difference," says a senior Obama administration official who was not authorized to speak to the press.
As for the potential for diplomatic awkwardness now that everyone knows America thinks Medvedev wears green tights, few Russia watchers seemed concerned. "In Russia, unlike in America, where optimism reigns, the views on politics are extremely cynical," says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs. "No one is surprised that diplomats say these kinds of things." (Lukyanov added that only Medvedev stood to be offended. "Putin is likely to be flattered," he says. "He has built his whole political image on being the alpha dog.") There is also a practical matter preventing any kind of real offense, the American side was quick to point out. "I personally don't see what the big deal is," the Obama official says. "They intercept our phones and emails enough to make this not surprising." Besides, those Batman-Robin analogies, he adds, were the work of "Bushies." "Obama doesn't treat Medvedev as Robin," he says.
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