5/24: The American Chamber of Commerce and Diplomatic Academy Roundtable

We woke up at the atrocious hour of 7:30 AM this morning, dressed up in our finest business-like attire, to meet Mr. Andrew Somers, CEO of American Chamber of Commerce. It's difficult to describe how good it felt to meet another American in Russia. You  feel as though they understand all of the different language and cultural problems that you are going through. You can speak with them without having to worry about breaking any cultural norms or trying to make sense of their heavy accent. It helped me to understand why several of the international students lump together in Geneseo. They relate with one another and it is difficult to make friends with other people when you have a group of friends with the same background at your feet.

Even walking into the building felt like I was stepping into a portal back to America. The floor was polished, there was public seatings and restrooms, the guards and secretaries spoke English (and smiled at you!), the signs didn't have the Cyrillic alphabet, and there was even a Starbucks connected to the building. It's funny how patriotic you become when you leave your country. You tend to forget how privileged you are.

Andrew Somers

Mr. Somers' office was on the top floor of the fourteen story building. We were offered coffee and tea for free (a rarity in Russia) and sat down at an oversized conference room table meant for thirty people. The briefing he gave us of US business relations in Russia was incredibly informative. I learned more about US-Russian relations in a half-hour than from Professor Asatiani in an hour and a half. He spoke about the drivers of Russia's economy, corruption in the state procurement programs, and relations with the US under Obama. I asked him about his thoughts on Mitt Romney as a presidential candidate and how his views on Russia would impact business relations between the two countries. He said that most of Romney's criticism of Russia as an economic threat to the US is just campaign rhetoric, which will be moderated if he is elected president. Several of the students (including myself) really enjoyed the briefing. It made me seriously consider a position in some kind of chamber of commerce (after all, it has a healthy blend of both political science and economics). It basically involves representing the business interests in a particular situation. For example, Somers was saying that "localization" was a big issue that he dealt with. If John Deere, for example, wanted to build a factory in Russia, but the Russian government says the company must use Russian labor and supplies within five years, the Chamber of Commerce is responsible for the negotiation of the time limit (Somers may try to work it up to ten years).

Mr. Somers was so nice that he allowed for us to ask him questions a half-hour later than we expected. The only downside to this is that we would be late for lunch if we didn't move our tushies fast enough. We sprinted to the metro and crammed (and by "crammed" I mean there was barely enough room to breathe) into a public bus like the clothing we tried to fit into our suitcases. We arrived at 12:45 to the faculty building and were forced to scarf down our lunch in fifteen minutes. I don't think I've ever gone through a five-course meal so quickly. Our stomachs hurt after lunch, so we were given small break until our next trip to the Diplomatic Academy.

We were shown upstairs by one of the professors (Dr. Oleg Ignatikin), who brought us to the gallery of all the famous people who visited the Academy. Mary McAleese (President of Ireland), Hugo Chaves (President of Venezuela), Farouk al-Sharaa (Vice President of Syria) and Sergei Stanishev (Prime Minister of Bulgaria) were among those on the wall. We were then taken to a large conference room where eight Russian students sat. Dr. Ignatikin told us that most of the students were earning their Masters Degrees at the Academy, making me feel academically inferior to the students at the other end of the table. I opened the discussion by asking why Russia continues to supply the Syrian president with weapons, despite cries from Western powers that it is just infighting more violence. The Russian students spoke with a strong accent and it was difficult to understand their responses. What it came down to was that they believed that an armed government would contribute to stability in the region because it would give Bashar al-Assad an ability to crack down on protestors. I'm sure that the families of those who lost their lives to the oppressive Syrian regime would have loved to hear that answer.

Students of the Diplomatic Academy Ready to Debate

When they began to press us on issues, it was clear that they were intent on starting a debate. The students  pointed out US military bases around the world, US-based multinational in Africa, the drone strikes on Pakistan, and our "repressive" sanctions on North Korea. Isaac and I did the most defending of US foreign policy, but it was difficult given he difference in education, expertise, and preparation. We pointed out the refusal of Russia to go along with the US-EU sanctions on Iran, the incredibly low Freedom House rating that Russia has, and the high corruption level in Russia. After two hours, we ended the discussion (which turned out to be really interesting) and went to dinner with the students.

We decided to eat at My My (pronounced) "Moo Moo" for the second time on the trip. We enjoyed it because it was a cafeteria-style restaurant. This meant that everything was a la carte (thus, good for a low budget) and easy to point to in case we couldn't read the menu in Russian.