Mapleleaf wrote:What are Russians' thoughts about Obama and McCain?
Hi, I am back. Apologies for the long absence in this thread, the new site design is still something I have to struggle through. Have made another trip to Germany and also visited Paris, France just at the same time when the war with Georgia happened.
As to Russians' thoughts about Obama and McCain, my answer is long overdue. Will try to answer it first. I have already wrote somewhere at a2k that Russians normally understand very little any differences between republicans and democrats in the US and begin to take notice when the candidates start discussing foreign policy. So, Mr.McCain's words that Russia should be expelled from G8 and other international forums were noticed. It created him a reputation of an old retrograde here and Mr.Obama is more popular in Russia; most people tend to think he will be the next US president. However the public opinion views both candidates as only disagreeing in details on how to impose American way of life on other nations and punish Russia for not embracing western values. No one here is expecting any great improvement or deterioration in Russian-American relations, which seem to follow events but not determine them.
Honestly, the consequences of the credit crunch now interest people here much more than American elections and foreign policy in general, though it becomes clear that in a global crisis international relations can impact things.
