Russia Expecting New US Missile Defence Proposals

An undated picture shows Russian "Iskander" missile on display during a military equipment exhibition in the Siberian town of Nizhny Tagil. Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned in 2008 that Russia would deploy Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave wedged between NATO and EU members Poland and Lithuania, if Washington did not withdraw the missile shield plan. (AFP/Vedomosti/File/Evgeny Stetsko)

From Yahoo News/AFP

MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia is awaiting new proposals from the United States to resolve a dispute on missile defence that has chilled ties between the two Cold War ex-foes, President Dmitry Medvedev was quoted Sunday as saying.

Medvedev's comments were among the most upbeat yet by Moscow on the chance of an improvement in ties under new US President Barack Obama after the missile defence row and Georgia war sent relations to a post-Soviet low.

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My Comment: A few weeks ago, we had mentioned that the White House approach towards the Russians on Missile Defense in Europe was the wrong approach. By making it publicly known that the U.S. would hold back on installing such an installation if the Russians would (in turn) assist in curtailing Iran's nuclear program .... these sequence of events only put the Russian leadership in a position where they had to say no.

The Russian Government .... especially under Putin .... can never be shown knuckling under U.S. pressure. As a result .... they have continued to proceed with assisting Iran in completing their first nuclear reactor.

On the bright side, the Russians have yet to deliver the surface to air S-300 missile system to Iran. They have also made public their commitment to an all European strategy towards security, and their belief that it is in this framework that the Iranian nuclear situation and missile defense must be discussed.

But so far .... no comments from the White House.

My guess is that they were hoping that the Russian Government would listen and accept President Obama's demands to stop Iran's nuclear program. The fact that the Russians did not .... and the fact that there has been no effective response from the U.S. Government .... tells me two things. (1) No fall back strategy and/or other options were conceptualized by this White House, and (2) the Russians now know that foreign policy under this White House is still trying to sort itself out.

The more that the U.S. delays in proposing a new U.S. missile defense policy to the Russians .... the more that the Russians will realize that their concerns about lack of direction and leadership in the U.S. Government are true.