WHAT UNITES AND SEPARATES THEM IN MODERN WORLD POLITICS

The 44th (already 44th) election held at the very beginning of 2009. the President of the United States probably would not have attracted such a truly universal attention of billions of people around the world, if not for one circumstance: for the first time in the country's 232-year history, Barack Hussein Obama Jr., an African-American, became the new president. This immediately put the question on the agenda: how will the United States of America, a powerful world power, the leader of the Western world, now develop relations with the homeland of his ancestors - Africa?

Recently, the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences published a book summarizing this "sector" of the American president's activities and US African policy for five years, counting from January 20, 2009-the day of Obama's inauguration: "USA-AFRICA: the policy of the Obama Administration. 2009-2014 " (2015, 208 p). Its author is Doctor of Historical Sciences, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR/A. Urnov, Chief Researcher at the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, analyzed a truly colossal material describing Washington's African course and the course of its implementation in the political, economic, humanitarian and military fields.

Literally "in the first lines" of his work, the author notes the complexity of the situation in which B. Obama found himself. "In Africa, the color of the US president's skin gave his administration credibility." But "in the US, the situation was more complicated. On the African front, Obama should have been careful not to give American voters any reason to suspect, or even accuse, that following the "call of blood", the president pays attention to Africa to the detriment of their welfare and the global interests of the United States" (p.13).

The content of the book convinces that Obama managed to maintain this kind of" balance of interests", although the US African policy throughout the entire term chosen by the author was multi-vector and very active. It was formed, of course, not from scratch: in the "Introduction" A. Y. Urnov tells how the 42nd and 43rd US presidents were engaged in "African affairs". "Under Clinton and Bush Jr., the position of the United States in Africa was strengthened, some positive experience was accumulated in US-African relations, and the image of the United States on the continent changed for the better" (p.11). However, he immediately admits that there are no fewer problems "in the African direction". Conflicts raged in a number of countries, terrorism failed to end, maritime piracy developed, transnational drug trafficking routes passed through the continent, and the struggle with a number of states for political influence in Africa and its natural resources continued. This" legacy " was inherited by Obama from his predecessors.

There were also positive aspects in this "legacy". The author repeatedly refers in his work to the Law on Economic Growth and Trade Opportunities of Africa (AGOA), adopted in the United States in May 2001, "which still serves as one of the main instruments of US policy in the region" (p. 8). This law significantly facilitated the development of economic relations with African countries for Barack Obama. The book provides strong evidence that, between 2001 and 2012, the AGOA contributed to the development of U.S. trade with Africa and some economic progress in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). At the same time, A. Y. Urnov rightly notes that "...in our opinion, the role of the AGOA as a kind of locomotive of African development should not be assigned. The SSA was, and still is, primarily a supplier of raw materials for the United States" (p. 18).

The undoubted advantage of the work is its very clear plan. Chapter headings are extremely informative. In the first part of the paper - "US African policy against the backdrop of the 2012 presidential election" - these are: "Obama's pillars of African politics. American-Led Partnership"; "The United States and Conflict Situations on the Continent"; "US relations with individual countries of the continent"; "The US election campaign and Africa". And in the second part - " The US-Africa Summit (2013-2014)": "The activity of the United States on the continent is growing"; "2014 is the American "Year of Africa"; " More about bilateral relations (2013-2014) "(analysis of such relations with 12 countries. - N. P.); "Conflict zones" (analysis of the situation in 8 zones. - N. P.); "The Year of Africa" is over. What's next?"

The advantage of the work is also the uniqueness of the chosen topic: such books, which would analyze in such detail the relations of one country and an entire continent in close connection with a limited period of time, can be counted on one's fingers.

Another advantage is that the range of problems discussed in the book is extremely wide. Which of them could be identified as the main ones? I think these are economic problems. We must pay tribute to the author's objectivity - he cites numerous examples of how the United States sent financial assistance to the SSA countries for development and poverty reduction, to fight hunger, to support African farms, and to reform the economy. Total U.S. spending on development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa, as well as Morocco, totaled $1 billion in 2012 alone.

But is there a lot of genuine altruism in all these actions? This question was answered by the Secretary of State in the Obama administration. Clinton in one of the messages to Congress. Assistance to the development of the poorest unstable regions is provided "not only because it is the right thing to do", but also because it represents "proven and justified strategic investments that allow us to create future partners and customers" (p. 23). Globalism, as we can see, remains true to itself even here.

A large chapter of the book is devoted to US involvement in conflict resolution on the continent. There were a lot of such events during the Obama presidency - especially the events in Somalia, Sudan, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as the events of the so-called "Arab Spring" in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria are considered in detail. The author expresses his position, which is noticeably different from that held by the majority of Russian political scientists: "The view that the United States of America was behind the Arab Spring from the very beginning is questionable. In our opinion, the "spring" took Washington by surprise, but its response to what is happening was quite flexible and energetic. The Obama administration tried to adapt to the emerging processes and direct them in a direction acceptable to the United States, starting to interact with the overthrowers of the former government and the new ruling regimes. As a result, the "Arab Spring" was presented as a success of the US policy, bringing the ideals and values of democracy to the Islamic world" (p.49).

We must pay tribute to A. Y. Urnov - this is not the only example when, based on concrete facts, he expresses his own position in the book, which does not coincide with the opinion of other experts, but is very evidentiary. This can not fail to arouse respect among readers and always distinguishes the work of a true scientist from many "conjuncturists from politics".

Did Barack Obama make any serious mistakes in carrying out his own and at the same time national "African policy"? Judging by the text of the party platform published on September 4, 2012, on the eve of the next presidential election, there were no such events from the position of the Democratic Party. "The President is working to help African peoples grow their economies, and we have opened up trade and investment opportunities for the entire continent," the platform stated (p.81).

But fate prepared for Obama a serious test: literally immediately after the congress, the "Arab winter" broke out. The book describes in detail the violent negative reaction caused by the screening on television of the film "Innocence of Muslims", which grossly offended the religious feelings of millions of adherents of this religion (p. 82). A wave of anti-American protests swept through dozens of countries, US embassies and consulates were destroyed, and there were human casualties. Barack Obama condemned the attacks, called the film "Innocence of Muslims ""low-grade and disgusting", but refused to impose a ban on the demonstration of this tape, citing the United States ' loyalty to freedom of speech.

This assessment was made by the US President on September 25, 2012 at the regular session of the UN General Assembly. Where, by the way, there were words very similar to those that he repeatedly uttered later, and recently-and in September of this year at the session of the UN General Assembly: "The regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria must be put to an end", so that "the suffering of the people will stop" and "a new dawn will rise" (p. 82-87).

Truly, the ironic assessment of A. Y. Urnov is convincing: "Not a speech, but a sermon!" Just as one cannot but agree with the scientist's position regarding the ill-fated TV movie: "The ability of self-imposed" voices of tolerance "to successfully drown out" voices of hatred "raises great doubts, not to mention the fact that in the Arab world such" tolerance "was perceived, at least, as connivance, and in the Arab world such "tolerance" was perceived at least as connivance. in most cases-as support for video authors and their supporters" (p. 82).

The beginning of the second presidency of Barack Obama was marked, as stated in the book, by an increase in the efforts of American diplomacy in the African direction. In the summer of 2013, the President visited Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania, where he held talks with the leaders of these countries; later, similar talks with the leaders of other African states were held in Washington.

A. Y. Urnov talks in detail about three new initiatives put forward by Obama during his African trip. These include the establishment of fellowships for young African leaders, strengthening U.S.-African trade and economic ties, and U.S. involvement in the development of electricity supply in South African countries (pp. 102-103). But the largest and most visible action aimed at strengthening the United States ' ties with the States of the African continent was decided to be held in 2014.

On January 21 of that year, the White House press secretary announced that the first U.S.-Africa summit would be held in Washington on August 5-6. For the Obama administration, 2014 was supposed to be the "Year of Af" in both practical and propaganda terms.-

ricky." Representatives of 47 States were invited to the summit (p. 121).

The section devoted to the preparation for the summit and its holding is one of the largest in the book: essentially, a local event is allocated 12 pages. The importance attached to the summit in the United States is shown by the pompous statement of the country's Secretary of State addressed to the participants of this meeting: "Africa can become a beacon for the whole world" (p. 123).

The president himself went even further in the ratings, theatrically playing out his African origin. At a dinner in honor of the summit participants, Barack Obama said:: "I stand before you as the President of the United States and a proud American. But I also stand before you as the son of an African. African blood runs in my family's veins. So the ties that bind our countries and our continents are deeply personal" (p. 125).

But it seems that these words did not really convince the author of the book, who very accurately determined why, in fact, this event was held: "With all the diversity of the summit's agenda, the main focus was on addressing issues of US-African economic ties. Economic issues were discussed at the first of three sessions of the White House summit. The business forum was attended by the Presidents of the World Bank and the African Development Bank, heads of all departments of the economic block of the administration, representatives of about 100 American companies" (p.126).

Urnov did not miss the fact that the summit highlighted the steadily growing role of the African continent in the production of hydrocarbons. Shortly before the Washington meeting, a joint study by the Institute for Strategic Studies and the US Army War College was published on the prospects for increasing production and reserves of hydrocarbons in Africa. It claims that "...by 2035, Africa will overtake Latin America and East Asia in oil production, come close to North America, and will be second only to the Middle East and Eurasia." In this regard, the United States has huge opportunities for new investment in Africa (p.126).

At the final press conference, Barack Obama announced that the participants of the meeting considered it a success and agreed to hold such summits regularly; a little later, he announced that they would be held every 4 years. The chapter on the summit essentially concludes the section of A. Y. Urnov's book devoted to "Pan-American-African" problems solved by the Obama administration (p. 132).

There are two more chapters in the book, which deal with relatively narrow, local issues of relations between the North American power and individual countries of the African continent. The review includes 20 states of the SSA and North Africa, which, according to the author of the monograph, can provide a fairly complete picture of the Obama administration's policy towards individual countries and conflict situations on the continent during the period under review (p.137).

The chapter "More on Bilateral Relations (2013-2014)" deals with US relations with South Africa, Nigeria, Angola, Ethiopia, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda (pp. 137-154). US relations with almost all of these 12 countries are favorable and are developing "on the rise". For some, Obama is incredibly generous with compliments. "By your example and by your policies in organizations such as SADC and the African Union, you can serve as a call to human progress," the President said in one of his speeches in Cape Town (p.137).

Relations with other African countries are more complex in the United States, and assessments of bilateral ties are relatively restrained. Such are the rather cool relations with Angola - the country's leader, Dos Santos, despite the invitation, did not even go to Washington for the summit mentioned above. But the United States spares no effort to establish more or less friendly relations with this country. "The main component of bilateral relations," A. Y. Urnov emphasizes in his book, "is economic ties, primarily the export of Angolan oil to the United States" (pp. 142-143). Americans have a difficult relationship with Uganda, which passed several laws in 2014 that, according to Washington, violated the norms of democracy (p. 154).

The section on bilateral relations between the United States and African countries would, in my opinion, be more complete if the author paid attention to those states with which the leader of the West has far from simple relations. These are, for example, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Central African Republic, Sudan, Eritrea and some others - their policies in Washington are considered anti-American and undemocratic, and therefore they "do not enjoy a good reputation in the United States." However, as A. Y. Urnov notes, for example, Libya and South Sudan, despite the violence and the crisis of power there, maintained a "good reputation" in the eyes of Washington... (p. 121).

The author of the book avoids making final assessments of Barack Obama's African policy during his second presidential term: there is still a lot of time left before the end of this term. But he gives a fairly complete and detailed description of the first presidential term that ended in the fall of 2012. A. Y. Urnov supported in his work experts who stated that " apart from rhetoric, little has changed in the US - Africa policy in essence." Hopes turned out to be "false", "euphoria" gave way to"disappointment". As a result, "Africa and the Pan-American world felt neglected and even betrayed."

According to some estimates, under Obama, the US African policy not only did not improve, but, on the contrary, acquired new negative features. "In dealing with Africa, the first president of the United States of African descent refined his political speeches in terms of demagoguery, and his practical policies in terms of hypocrisy and double standards" (pp. 95-96). It is fair to say that in other sections of his work A. Y. Urnov also gives positive assessments of the African culture.

US politics under Obama. And he himself quite highly appreciates the contribution of the United States to overcoming poverty on the continent, to training national cadres by the Americans, and to appeasing the warring parties to numerous conflicts in Africa.

Africans, according to the author of the book, " ... are really interested in cooperation with the United States in the field of economy, health, peacemaking and the fight against terrorism. The US plans to expand this cooperation on the continent are generally viewed positively. African states, of course, will try to extract the maximum benefit for themselves from these plans, but here it is up to anyone who is lucky" (p.201).

But those who will surely be lucky are the readers of the book " USA-Africa...". This work systematically summarized an important sector of world politics. The book has many advantages - among them I would count the huge reference apparatus and the large number of materials used, which the author refers to in the extensive footnotes that conclude each chapter of the book. Thanks to carefully selected links, the attentive reader will also be able to get acquainted with additional materials on the topic of US African policy during the presidency of Barack Obama.

The picky reader will also find some shortcomings in the work. The author predicts that the growth of US activity will lead to an aggravation of competition for Africa. "China, Japan, India, the EU and other global actors will not compromise their interests" (p. 201).

So they, by the way, they have not been sacrificed for a long time!..

In recent years, the magazine" Asia and Africa Today " has published many articles about the growing activity on the African continent of a number of European and Asian states, primarily China. They cited facts of direct opposition to the interests and actions of the United States. And an analysis of these facts could be a good addition to a peer-reviewed book.

In the" clinch " between the United States and Russia in the period under review on the African continent practically did not enter. But some of the points that the author only mentions deserve, in our opinion, a more detailed analysis. We are talking, in particular, about the UN vote on the Ukrainian issue, when a number of US African allies refused to fully support the position of the "patron". And also about the "painful" point for the United States - the accession of South Africa to the BRICS union, of which Russia is a member and de facto founder (p. 139). In our opinion, these events should also be given more space.

However, these particular points do not detract from the undoubted value and absolute relevance of the book of the famous diplomat and scientist.

N. I. PETROV, Editor of Asia and Africa Today magazine

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