U.S. Ambassador to Russia: We Support "Universal Values" Not "American Values"

U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul tells NPR that President Obama's policy when it comes to Russia is that we're "going to support what we like to call universal values" and "not American values." (via Weasel Zippers)

The Senate confirmed McFaul as ambassador on December 17, 2011. Transcript below.

NPR: Let's say Vladimir Putin wins the election in March and remains in power in Russia. Where are we in these countries, I mean in this evolution towards democracy you describe?

MCFAUL: We're, you know, two decades in. I'm not going to give grades about, oh, how democratic or not it is, but most certainly this system is not the totalitarian dictatorship of the Soviet Union. Let's be very clear about that. Individual rights have progressed far. Choice is greater than it was before. And maybe not as great as it was a decade ago. That's for others to decide. And that's the real point. There is no single path to democracy. And every society and every government and every country will find their own path. And we, as President Obama has said many, many times, we're not going to get into the business of dictating that path, we're just going to support what we like to call universal values. Not American values, not Western values, universal values.