Helping Moscow Helps America : Keep Russia democratic, avoid defense buildup

Why should the U.S. government contribute billions of dollars to the international effort to reshape the Russian economy, at a time when it is hard-pressed to find money to rescue American cities?

The sentiment behind this frequently asked question is understandable; the question itself, though, misses the point. For its implication is that Congress and the President have to choose between allocating scarce resources to aid Russia or aiding American cities. That’s wrong. Aid is not an either/or matter.

TIME OF PAIN: The fact is that the cities must have federal help to try to arrest the accelerating cycle of social waste and physical decay that threatens their survival as livable and economically viable communities. The no less compelling fact is that the United States must join with other wealthy nations to contribute its fair share to facilitate Russia’s transition to a market economy. Why “must”? Because in both cases a failure to act now, whatever perceived short-term benefits might accrue from not adding a few billions to the staggering budget deficit, would inevitably produce vastly higher costs not too many years hence. It’s that simple.

The fate of free markets and free institutions in Russia is not yet settled. President Boris N. Yeltsin promised in his address to Congress this week to continue his program of economic reconstruction, presiding over a revolutionary transformation where inevitably pain must precede gain. But the pain has produced public anger and restiveness, enhancing the appeal of the forces of political reaction. No one expects a revival of communism in Russia if Yeltsin fails. But many fear, with good reason, that a restoration of authoritarianism based on xenophobic nationalism is possible. Should such a reversion occur there’s a very good chance that those missiles that Yeltsin began disarming this week could be rearmed and re-aimed at U.S. cities. What would it cost the United States to respond to that threat? Infinitely more than the relatively modest cost of the Russian aid measure now before Congress.

Washington’s multifaceted aid package, with a probable ceiling of about $6.5 billion, would provide near-term humanitarian and practical support while facilitating Russia’s participation in the world economy. Along with other actions taken this week it would encourage normal trade and commerce, including what could well be substantial private American investment.

TIME OF OPPORTUNITY: Russia offers a vast market, for its own products and certainly for those of foreign suppliers. An economically reoriented Russia, eager to expand its trade, eager for Western products, bodes strongly to aid job creation in the United States and elsewhere. But first a market economy must take hold, along with the free institutions to support it, for without these things Russia seems destined to slide backward into a renewed confrontation with the outside world. The United States, in its own interests, must help Russia even as it is helping its own cities, for what’s at stake in both cases is its own future well-being.