It’s no secret that the Russian-American relationship has been full of friction—if you don’t believe us, just stop by and observe our newsroom. But this summer, our leaders decided to hit the reset button and begin again. In our sixth year collaborating on The Journalist, a joint publication of Moscow State University and the University of Washington Tacoma, we have chosen to use the Reset Button as our primary theme.

In this magazine, we will present articles exploring this idea from a broad range of topics. Whether we are questioning Mr. Medvedev and Mr. Obama’s attempt to reassess our partnership or commenting on our changing world, we have found that this concept can be applied in many ways.

We begin with discussing this reset directly, featuring predictions on what’s ahead for our two countries from American and Russian authorities, articles on how the change has been perceived by our peers, and a discussion of American journalism in terms of the economic crisis and Barack Obama’s presidency.

But the idea of a reset exists beyond our changing relationship. Today we are experiencing changes in the global economy, world political power, the environment, and more. Our magazine reflects these other “resets.”

Finally, in the interest of becoming more aware of each other’s cultures and way of life, we will present a series of articles on Russian and American music, theater, and film.

Throughout the magazine, we hope to further understanding between our two countries and contribute to the reset in our relationship. We feel political conflict must not prevent people from communicating. Before we can truly change world policy, we must change the way we regard one another.

Marisa Petrich  Pavel Koshkin