Hillary Clinton often cites her work with Russia as a foreign policy success. However, as with much of her work as secretary of state, the success of the Russian reset has come into question—even by her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
On Monday, while serving as a campaign surrogate for Hillary, Bill suggested the United States and Russia have drifted apart, with the exception of the START agreement. “The only thing that has survived the estrangement of the United States and Russia from our attempt to do better is something called the New START Treaty, negotiated by Hillary’s State Department, which makes us much safer from this prospect from an accidental or intentional nuclear exchange. In a dangerous world, I think that’s a pretty good deal.”
Bill probably didn’t intend to criticize Hillary’s foreign policy, but it certainly came off that way. And he’s not the first to criticize the Obama administration’s failed Russian reset.
In May, a key architect of the reset warned not to try it again.
In June, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said the Russian reset was an “invention of Hillary Clinton” and the Obama administration. “Well, if you take the original reset, it was not our invention, it was the invention of Hillary Clinton and Obama administrations because with their predecessors, George Bush Jr., Vladimir Putin had very good personal relations.”
Since the reset, numerous top foreign policy officials—including Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Paul Selva—have described Russia as a top threat to national security. Russia has also actively countered U.S. foreign policy efforts. On Saturday, Putin even named the U.S. as a top threat to Russia.
Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, Hillary has continued to praise her foreign policy successes in Russia. She just might want to remind Bill to do the same.
