Washington Post - 11.12.2003

The Washington Post

No Help for Democracy 

Editorial

VLADIMIR PUTIN'S latest campaign of persecution against a perceived political opponent, oil billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has demonstrated that neither democracy nor capitalism has taken hold in Russia. Sadly, the same is true in many of Russia's neighbors: From Central Asian states such as Kazakhstan to Ukraine and the Balkans, those who support free elections, a free press and free enterprise struggle against a daunting array of adversaries, from murderous criminal syndicates to resurgent secret police. There are limits to what the United States can do to help the liberal politicians and independent journalists and young entrepreneurs of this region -- yet one of the few things it has done well is now in danger. Blaming budget pressure, the Senate is moving toward elimination of funding for exchange and training programs in Russia, the former Soviet Union and the Balkans -- an extraordinarily shortsighted decision. 

Since the collapse of communism, three U.S. administrations have worked to nourish free markets and institutions in Eastern Europe and Central Asia by granting Fulbright scholarships to students and professors and by organizing exchange and training programs for businessmen and women, journalists, teachers and others who might help build a more open society. Thousands of Russian high school students have been brought to the United States; young entrepreneurs have been able to work as interns in U.S. companies. Activists have been trained to mount campaigns against human trafficking or the spread of HIV-AIDS. Independent journalists and innovative teachers have received instruction and equipment. The programs have annoyed the former KGB officers who now dominate Mr. Putin's administration, as well as other autocrats around the region; they rightly see the programs as promoting Western ideas and U.S. influence. 

While scaling back other aid programs at Mr. Putin's insistence, the Bush administration sought $100 million for the Eurasian exchanges in next year's budget -- a cut of 25 percent. Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), who oversees the House subcommittee in charge of the legislation, supported the administration's request, but the Senate subcommittee headed by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) deleted the funding in its entirety. Remarkably, Mr. Gregg acknowledged that the programs "consistently produce good results" but complained that they had been shifted to a different budget account to make room for new programs in the Middle East. In effect, the senator argues that if the United States is to support democracy in the Middle East, it must stop doing so in Russia and Ukraine and Serbia. Such logic would surely please Mr. Putin -- but it ought to be rejected by the congressional leadership.