Nuclear Deference -- Dimitri Trenin, Foreign PolicyHow Obama can convince Moscow he's not out to ruin Russia.
Barack Obama hopes to engage Russia in his effort to continue reducing nuclear armaments. For the president, this is vital for advancing his goal of a world less reliant on nuclear weapons. For Moscow, however, nuclear arms remain the bedrock of military security and a key component of Russia's international status. This does not necessarily doom Obama's approach, but it makes further reduction of U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals contingent on Washington's willingness to consider Moscow's security needs. The United States should examine those requirements in order to understand not only what kind of a deal with Russia is possible, but how Russia's needs relate to its own security interests.
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My Comment: Dimitri Trenin presents a bold case to renew U.S. - Russian ties .... but I know that it will not succeed. There is no rush in Russia to accommodate the U.S. (or anyone else) on defense issues. There is also no trust in Moscow on U.S. intentions .... especially on national security issues. If anything .... Russia is now focused on spending hundreds of billions on modernizing it`s military and bringing it to a level that it can adequately protect and guarantee Russia`s borders as well as being able (and capable) of projecting military power on it`s neighboring states well into the 21rst century. And no one is going to change their mind on that issue.
If there was a personal relationship between Presidents Obama and Putin there may have been a chance to come to some "grand bargain" .... but there is no relationship. President Obama`s focus is to transform America .... and Putin`s focus is to transform Russia. Working together on solving the world`s problems is on the bottom of their to-do list, and I wager that it is going to continue like this well into the next U.S. administration.
Update: An excellent commentary and analysis on U.S. - Russian relations is here.
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