1NC ALTB 5. U.S. Russian relations solve every impact CFR Task Force, 6 [Council on Foreign Relations Independent Task Force for Russia, Chaired by John Edwards and Jack Kemp, WRONG DIRECTION: WHAT “RUSSIA’S THE UNITED STATES CAN AND SHOULD DO,” http://www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/Russia_TaskForce.pdf] the interests of the United States are served by Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, American presidents and policymakers have believed that engagement with Russia. This Task Force, too, began its review of U.S. policy—and concludes it—convinced of the extraordinary importance of U.S.-Russian cooperation can help the United States to handle some of the most difficult getting U.S. relations with Russia right. challenges it faces: terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, tight energy markets, climate change, the drug trade, infectious diseases, and human trafficking. These problems are more manageable when the United States has Russia on its side rather than aligned against it. Good relations between Moscow and Washington also bolster one of the most promising international realities of our near absence of security rivalries among the major powers. That the world’s leading states deal with each other in a spirit of accommodation is a great asset for American policy, and the United States will be in a better position to protect that arrangement if relations with Russia are on a positive track.
1NC ALTB 5. U.S. Russian relations solve every impact CFR Task Force, 6 [Council on Foreign Relations Independent Task Force for Russia, Chaired by John Edwards and Jack Kemp, “RUSSIA’S WRONG DIRECTION: WHAT THE UNITED STATES CAN AND SHOULD DO,” http://www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/Russia_TaskForce.pdf] Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, American presidents and policymakers have believed that the interests of the United States are served by engagement with Russia. This Task Force, too, began its review of U.S. policy—and concludes it—convinced of the extraordinary importance of getting U.S. relations with Russia right. U.S.-Russian cooperation can help the United States to handle some of the most difficult challenges it faces: terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, tight energy markets, climate change, the drug trade, infectious diseases, and human trafficking. These problems are more manageable when the United States has Russia on its side rather than aligned against it. Good relations between Moscow and Washington also bolster one of the most promising international realities of our near absence of security rivalries among the major powers. That the world’s leading states deal with each other in a spirit of accommodation is a great asset for American policy, and the United States will be in a better position to protect that arrangement if relations with Russia are on a positive track.
Offsets_Counterplan___Paper___Michigan.docx