“January 20. US. Inhabration of hope for changes”

January 9 at the premises of the Charitable Foundation. O. Molodchy held a thematic meeting “January 20. As part of the meeting, a photo exhibition of Gennady Maxaka “from the quiet to the Atlantic – in the hope of changes” was opened. The photos that were included in the exposition were made by the author in November 2008 in the United States, where G. Maxak was as an international observer on the presidential election under the US State Department.

At the end of the presentation of the photography, an expert discussion “Ukrainian direction of US foreign policy: a new format of American-Ukrainian relations” was held.

As a result of the discussion, a number of conclusions and forecasts for the deployment of further relations between the United States and Ukraine were made.

In particular, the main conclusion that each of those present during the discussion is that in the near future, a significant improvement in the level of relations between countries should not be expected. First, the powerful financial and economic crisis, both in the US and in the world, has made priority for Obama’s domestic policy and economics. The unprecedented scope of the problem makes this challenge the main indicator of the success of democrats. Secondly, new priorities for the White House have been set for the world’s geopolitical transformations. The task of the foreign policy department under the guidance of the former Lady of America Hillary Clinton is the restoration of US leadership in the world. The undisputed priority for the United States will continue the operation in Afghanistan, withdrawing troops from Iraq until June 2009. Two -sided dialogue efforts will be enhanced with Iran, although the United States does not refuse to continue multilateral dialogue. The confrontation in the Middle East is another key node where the US should be involved in a peaceful solution. Although the objective position of the United States is quite doubtful, given the powerful Israeli lobby in the United States, including B. Obama’s team.

In the way, some participants of the discussion pointed to the high level of “fetishization” of Barack Obama, laying on him great expectations, which can end with negative consequences.

As for the possible beneficiary of a new agenda between Ukraine and the USA, there was also no special optimism in the comments of the participants. The only possible positive that may apply to other areas may be the spread of grant assistance to public organizations by donor institutions of the United States.

At the end of the discussion G. Maxak and Yuri Vdovenko, experts of the Analytical Center Polissya Fund of International and Regional Studies, who initiated the thematic meeting, emphasized the desire to introduce periodic collections of a discussion and expert site for discussion not only regional but also international events.