Peter Lavelle

Old habits always die hard. During her first visit to Moscow in office, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could not resist lecturing Russian politicians, not to mention students, on the kind of society they should live in.

The reversion to old habits was not confined to civil society issues - it also included how the Russia-US relationship should move forward. What we saw was Washington's "new" foreign policy: ‘Pax Americana' with President Barack Obama's human face - plus an unearned Nobel Peace Prize, no less.

I was supremely disappointed with Clinton's visit. Her news conference with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was a disaster.

Clinton gushed, while Lavrov stayed with the facts. Clinton wanted us to believe that problems in the bilateral relationship could be fixed by motivational speaking.

Lavrov revealed the true state of affairs during the following Q&A session, pointing out that little has been accomplished in "hitting the reset button".

Western media and much of Washington's chattering classes were awash with the notion that the Clinton visit would finally get the Russians on board against Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme.

President Dmitry Medvedev's earlier comment that sanctions against Iran, under certain circumstances, were inevitable was interpreted that Moscow had folded. Not surprisingly, Lavrov reiterated Russia's position that sanctions rarely work and that diplomacy with Tehran was far from exhausted.

Then the issue of new US plans for anti-missile defence arose.

Russia has reacted positively to Obama's announcement that he would scrap the Bush-era plans, but this week there was no sense that reciprocity was needed from Russia. And why should there be? Washington needlessly threatened Russia's security when it claimed the real aim of the anti-missile was a possible threat from Iran.

In fact, Moscow has no intention of rewarding Washington just yet, since the Pentagon has said it has ideas about new anti-missile defence.

Rhetorically, Russia has been told it could be invited to participate in the new plan. However, Lavrov made it clear there are no specifics on what that cooperation could mean.

Again, Clinton was getting ahead of herself - another bad habit of US foreign policy when trying to con a so-called friend. And believe me, the Russians aren't amused.

Desperate to show relations have really been reset, Clinton made reference to Russia's help for NATO over Afghanistan. Russia did the right thing long before the motivational speaking of the Obama administration - it agreed to an enhanced air corridor over Russian territory to supply US-led forces in Afghanistan. This kind of support is critical to avoid a complete and humiliating defeat at the hands of the Taliban, al-Qaeda and drug lords.

Russia's help for NATO didn't get it a Nobel Peace Prize, but it does demonstrate that Moscow is acutely aware of the fragility of the current international system and how to deal with the already failed state of Afghanistan.

When it comes to another problem state, Georgia, Russia's political elite and people see President Mikhail Saakashvili as a thug due to his actions in starting the South Ossetia conflict in August 2008.

But Obama's administration sides with a country whose leader committed war crimes and refuses to accept the legitimate claims of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to be free and independent.

Clinton said that the US and Russia remain at odds over this issue, but now it is Washington's problem. Moscow's position on South Ossetia and Abkhazia is clear and will not change. Saakashvili is one of Washington's creations, so now it has to think if he is worth spoiling relations with Moscow.

Addressing students at Moscow State University, Clinton did what many US politicians have done here before: share what they think are sacred truths about modernity - the whole civil and human rights 10-step programme to make the rest of the world just like America. It all sounded quite hollow.

Few in Russia - even critics of the current government here - see America as practicing its own self-proclaimed values.

Clinton's motivational speaking didn't convert anyone in Moscow. The Russians, like the rest of the world, are still waiting for meaningful decisions and actions from the Obama administration.

The clock is ticking and patience is running out.

Peter Lavelle is senior commentator for RT television and anchor of its political talk show "CrossTalk", which airs on Wednesdays and Saturdays.