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Bradley calls for new strategy toward Russia
November 29, 1999 BOSTON (CNN) -- At a campaign stop in Massachusetts on Monday, Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Bradley answered questions about his vision of America's global role. And while the former New Jersey senator didn't criticize his sole rival for the Democratic nomination by name, he did heap criticism on the Clinton-Gore Administration for its international policies.
Speaking at the Fletcher School of Diplomacy at Boston's Tufts University, Bradley kept to the generally high tone of his campaign on the subject of international affairs. He did not directly mention Vice President Al Gore, but he had strong words for President Bill Clinton's policy toward Russia -- a policy with which Gore is closely associated. Bradley criticized both the Clinton and the Bush administrations, saying they tried too hard to change the big picture in Russia at the expense of specific priorities such as reducing strategic nuclear weapons. "We became missionaries for a particular kind of international economics," Bradley said. "We're left with a situation in Russia where, in the best of worlds, we're seen as irrelevant to the average Russian and, in the worst of worlds, we're blamed for their economic circumstances." The U.S. must also broaden its ties to Russian political and civic leaders, Bradley argued, adding "our relationship with Russia has become our relationship with (Boris) Yeltsin." Reading briefly from prepared remarks, the former senator discussed the need for a new diplomatic paradigm in a post Cold War era -- an era Bradley said "doesn't even have a name yet." "We're at a time where I think we need to take stock, a time where we need to see around the next corner, a time where we need a new vision," Bradley said. "We cannot give an open-ended humanitarian commitment to the world." Asked if the U.S. had a moral obligation to intervene in humanitarian disasters abroad, Bradley cited "genocide" in Kosovo and Bosnia as two instances where America's values were threatened. But he also complained that diplomatic efforts to resolve the situations in those troubled regions were not undertaken early or effectively enough to prevent military action. The academic setting of Monday's event may have added to the civil tone of Bradley's gentle criticism of Gore -- who was never explicitly targeted. A Bradley campaign official said the campaign simply had no interest in criticizing the vice president. Bradley himself has waxed nostalgic for an era when, he said, disagreements on international policy ended "at the water's edge." CNN's Bill Delaney and The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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