The Russian-Iranian Tradeoff

WHICH IS THE GREATER THREAT? President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev (L) and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hold a meeting at the Gorky residence. Identifying U.S. foreign policy priorities might be complicated by disagreement between the United States and Europe about whether Russia or Iran is the greater threat. (ITAR-TASS photo via Newscom)

From Middle East Times:

Up until recently the United States and its European allies have sought to obtain Caspian Basin oil and gas from pipelines running from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey that bypass both Russia to the north and Iran to the south. Russia's quick, successful military intervention in Georgia during August 2008, though, has raised the prospect that pipelines through Georgia can easily be shut down or even taken over by Russia any time Moscow wants. This poses difficult foreign policy choices for the United States and Europe.

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