U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev pose during a meeting in Prague on nuclear disarmament on April 8, 2010. Astakhov Dmitry / ITAR-TASS Photo / CorbisFrom Time Magazine:
President Obama has presented the new arms control treaty he signed in Prague on April 8 as a "historic accomplishment" in both nuclear security and U.S. relations with Russia. But there are disturbing signs that the Obama Administration is overselling its progress with Russia, raising unrealistic hopes that Moscow would genuinely help in addressing the danger from Iran, the most likely nuclear threat to America and its allies.
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My Comment: Dimitri Simes accurately summarizes what the Russian press and pundit class have been saying since the signing of the treaty. Unlike the U.S. press corp which has been publishing glowing reviews and regurgitating what the House House has been telling them, the simple fact is that Russia has little if any interest to accommodate U.S. interests .... whether in Iran, Latin America, or any where else.
As to missile defense .... the Russian position and perception of the treaty is very clear .... which (according to a senior Russian official) is the following ....
"I can't quote you unequivocal language from President Obama or Secretary Clinton in conversations with us that there would be no strategic missile defenses in Europe, but everything that was said to us amounts to this."
Is this a victory for the Obama administration .... hardly.
2 comments:
you can't please the whole world! on something as essential as missile defense your own country comes first..
I completely agree Mark.
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