Obama scrapping missile shield for Czech, and Putin smiling; does that mean ...?

does that mean USA and Russia have made mutual decisions about Iran? does Obama expect Russia to stop backing Iran? this is a serious action after all the useless talks and yelling on both sides. what do you think?


Washington has a meaty wish list. It wants Russia to back tough sanctions against Iran to curb the Islamic Republic's alleged nuclear weapons ambitions. It would also like Russia to make deep cuts in its own nuclear arsenal when it comes to renegotiating a key arms control treaty due to expire in December. And last, but not least, it wants Russia's continued co-operation in helping Washington keep its troops in Afghanistan well supplied.

Iran will be the toughest issue to crack. The Russian government has so far appeared split on the sanctions issue with Mr Putin strongly opposing the idea and President Dmitry Medvedev apparently remaining open to such a demarche. Russia has embraced Iran as strongly as the US has shunned it. It has helped Iran construct its first nuclear reactor, sold it arms, and publicly defended its right to develop nuclear energy. It has never endorsed the idea of a nuclear-armed Iran, however, and is known to have grave misgivings about such a prospect. Few doubt that Kremlin pressure, even if it is applied behind the scenes, could yield real results.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6202759/Analysis-Putin-will-be-smiling-at-US-missile-shield-decision.html

what do you think about the upcoming events? does this mean they have come to an agreement about Iran?

2009-09-17T13:44:25Z

piegowdealer: that sounds very good but actually too optimistic for the world we live in.

SuzyQ2009-09-17T13:49:38Z

Favorite Answer

I don't trust Putin, but I'll give Obama the benefit of a doubt on this one. Maybe its a good thing.

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AE Newman2009-09-17T20:42:05Z

It remains to be seen how this plays out. The Iranians have got to be shaking in their boots today over these developments.

To date, President Obama has played a masterful hand at foreign policy. He's a poker player at heart, so I think you may soon find something up his sleeve!

And I like it that President Obama has not frittered away even the most foolish Bush initiative. Every move he makes has some gain for the USA. What a healthy contrast to Bush, who squandered 50 years of hard-fought agreements to pursue his USA-over-all policies.

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lymanspond2009-09-17T20:48:35Z

Europe is not a target of the Russian missiles, the U.S. is the target of the Russian missiles(does poland really constitute a threat to a nuclear armed russia?).....we are just taking out the ground based defenses we had in Europe for ourselves..... one would think that a sea based US Navy system for missile defense is going to be in place to take its place.....but probably not with 0bama, he probably is appeasing the Russians for their help on iran.......for which there is no money back plan if it does not work.....

02

nathan f2009-09-17T20:51:16Z

Russia has been looking for a reason to cancel the order for anti-aircraft missiles from Iran. This gives them the excuse.
Russia has no great love for Iran. Remember Russia has already had one fight with Muslim extremists and Iran is a lot closer to them than it is to us.

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Anonymous2009-09-17T20:41:23Z

No. All it means is that we have removed an aggressive Bush Administration weapons program from Russia's front door.

It means that we may or may not have entered into Glasnost II. And whatever else happens remains to be decided. England is about the only other nation in the world that blindly (some claim stupidly) follows the US lead.

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