Threatening Iran with harsh new sanctions to advance negotiations over its nuclear program would be “counterproductive,” Russia's foreign minister said Tuesday, throwing cold water on the Obama administration’s hopes that Russia had been persuaded to cooperate with its effort to intensify the global pressure on Tehran. (New York Times, 10/13/2009)
Less than one month after Obama appeases the Russians (and betrays American allies Poland and the Czech Republic) by cancelling an anti-missile defense system, he receives his payback. The Russians give him a middle finger salute on Iran. Is it too early to say that Obama is looking more and more like Jimmy Carter?
From http://www.powerlineblog.com/
ReplyDeleteWhat really has turned Russian heads, according to my sources, is Obama's eagerness to give things away. The Russians, you see, are hard-nosed. They drive hard bargains in their dealings with themselves and perhaps harder still with outsiders. They may even take what they can't get through hard bargaining when you're not looking.
Throughout the Cold War, except to some extent during the Carter years, the U.S. responded more or less in kind to Russian hard-bargaining. In the modern era, President Bush, prodded by Vice President Cheney, eventually did so as well.
It probably never occurred to the Russians that a U.S. president would come to power hoping to "reset" relations with Russian on some basis other than the hard bargain and the "trust but verify" mentality. Yet this is precisely what has fallen into the Kremlin's lap. From what I've heard, the Russian elites can neither believe their good fortune nor hide their amusement.