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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday to discuss how Russia and the U.S. will deal with Iran. Clinton echoed the president’s resetting Russian relations meme, and promised to stop criticizing the former Soviet Union about its human rights abuses, unlike the Bush administration.

Sounds like more appeasement. The U.S. must make nice with Russia if we hope to see any Russian cooperation with containing Iran. What has the U.S. received in return?

So far, not much, although Clinton said, “Russia has been extremely cooperative in the work that we have done together.” In return for Russia’s help, the U.S. will ease up on pushing Russia to issue tougher sanctions against Iran and work on diplomacy first. Should that fail, the U.S. will resume sanctions talks.

Iran purportedly agreed to allow inspections of the newly discovered second nuclear site. It’s probably why Lavrov said, “At the current stage, all forces should be thrown at supporting the negotiating process. Threats of new sanctions and pressure against Iran under current circumstances are counterproductive.”

Clinton also echoed Barack Obama’s view about Iran’s “right’ to develop peaceful nuclear power, but not weapons, and contended that Russia and the U.S. are in agreement on this point. After talks with Russia, Clinton said the U.S. will keep up the pressure against the defiant North Korea, which tested five missiles this week. While the U.S. is pushing for six-party talks, the rogue state seeks bilateral talks with the U.S.

(Sources: Associated Press and AFP)

>>  We blogged earlier this week that the Ukraine may be part of our country’s new missile defense shield plans. According to RIA Novosti, Ukraine’s president said the U.S. has yet to ask his country to host shields.

Such facilities in the Ukraine would be part of an early warning radar system, although it already has two missile radar systems. When Barack Obama dropped plans to deploy missile defense shields to Central Europe, Russia was pleased. But the former Soviet Union apparently reflected on the decision and realized it may not like the new plans, either. Russia’s Sergei Lavrov said, “We would like to receive full clarification.”

Russia and the U.S. seem to have different ideas about which countries pose the greatest nuclear threat. Russia doesn’t believe Iran’s missiles can reach Europe, and the U.S. doesn’t want to downplay Iran’s capabilities. Whether Hillary Clinton accomplished anything significant in Russia remains to be seen.

>>  In recent talks with Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer at Forum 2000, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed concern about Iran.

“Iran is a threat to the entire world and not just Israel,” he said. “The international community needs to unite together against this threat and recruit countries like Russia, China and India. Israel believes that everything needs to be done to stop Iran from becoming nuclear.” (Source)

>>  North Korea seeks bilateral talks with the U.S. and remain uninterested in six-party talks. The country invited U.S. special envoy Stephen Bosworth to meet with leaders to discuss the matter, but there’s been no official acceptance.

North Korea walked out on discussions in April. The State Department’s Phillip Crowley said, “We continue our close consultations with the other partners in the Six-Party process, but our position remains the same: North Korea has to eventually come back to the Six-Party process and recommit towards denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” (Source)

 
Last month President Barack Obama dropped plans to build missile defense shields in Poland and the Czech Republic, claiming that he wants to focus on proven and cost-effective technology that will aid in defending against Iran’s shorter-range missiles rather than long-range. The decision was seen as a move to placate Russia, a country that so far hasn’t given anything in return.

The AFP reports that Russia may not be elated about the decision after all. “The statements that are constantly being voiced raise more questions than answers,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. “We would like to receive full clarification.”

Don’t we all?

The two countries are discussing the new plan. There’s talk the Ukraine might be in the running to receive missile defense shields. The bottom-line is that Russia doesn’t want the U.S. to deploy any missiles in or near Europe. Will Obama go that far to appease Russia, while getting nothing in return? The former Soviet Union has refused to issue tougher sanctions against Iran.

The AP reports that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Russia to discuss how the two countries will deal with Iran. Since discovery of a second nuclear site in Iran, the U.S. is pushing for inspection to determine whether the endeavor is peaceful. We hope the president will play hardball with Russia and Iran if the efforts prove not so peaceful.

Clinton’s talking tough, saying that we “will not wait indefinitely” for Iran to decide to open its facility for inspection. It remains to be seen whether Russia will agree to harsher sanctions if Iran fails to comply. No doubt the second site has made Israel even more nervous, and our ally is prepared to defend itself.

 
It is common knowledge that Russia is highly critical of our country’s plans to build missile defense shields in Poland and the Czech Republic. It is also well known that President Barack Obama is ambivalent about the agreements, signed while George Bush was still in office. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country seeks “international cooperation” between Russia and the U.S. over launching a third missile defense site in Central Europe.

An excerpt of Lavrov’s statement, via Itar-Tass:

“In the course of the discussion on the third launch area for the global missile defence, the United States did not assume obligations regarding the terms of access to the third launch area facilities by Russian officials.

“In addition, Poland and the Czech Republic object to our permanent presence. On the whole, the measures of ‘transparency and trust’ that were proposed to us were rather symbolic and could not help ease the Russian concerns.
…
“Russia has proposed an alternative to the third launch area: foster international cooperation in the field of missile defence, assess missile threats and, if need be, work our joint response measures. This initiative remains in force. We are waiting for the new U.S. administration’s reply.”

Russia could not have picked a better time to ask for concessions from the U.S. Obama is in an appeasement mood. While Russia claims to want cooperation, its leaders have made themselves clear: Russia views our proposed missile defense shields with hostility and apparently, so does Obama.

Senator Susan Collins, who was in Europe recently, confirms that Russia is “wary” of possible missile defense shields in Central Europe. A member of the Armed Services Committee, Collins said Russia isn’t ready to agree to the bases, which they perceive as threats against their security. (Source)

 
Missile Defense Agency director Lt. Gen. Henry “Trey” Obering said he’s looking forward to reporting to President-Elect Barack Obama on the effectiveness of the missile defense systems planned for Poland and the Czech Republic.

Obering said the missiles are “workable.”

“Our testing has shown not only can we hit a bullet with a bullet, we can hit a spot on a bullet with a bullet,” he said at a news conference. Obering warned that abandoning the project would impede America’s ability to protect allies in those regions.

Although Obama has not committed to installing the bases, he has stated he’d make sure the systems were functioning properly before going forward. Obering appears ready, willing, and able to address the new president’s concerns when he visits the Pentagon.

Russia’s president Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reportedly said Russia would not install missiles near Poland if the U.S. cancels its plans to install missile defense systems. Neither Poland’s nor the Czech Republic’s parliaments have ratified the agreements.

(Source: AFP)

 
On Saturday, Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State, and Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, discussed our country’s missile defense plans in Europe.

Russia says it will deploy short-range ballistic missiles on its western border around Kaliningrad if the U.S. installs missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Despite Secretary Rice’s attempts to ease Russia’s concerns about the bases, the Kremlin has rejected the proposals, but may revisit them once President-Elect Barack Obama takes office, according to Reuters. This rejection comes even after the U.S. offered to allow Russia to inspect the bases.

Russia believes the bases are a threat but “is ready to cooperate with the United States on European security but considers the proposals that were sent are insufficient.”

So all it not lost, it appears.

During the campaign, Obama said he would make sure the missile defense systems worked before deployment, and Congress held off on funding the projects until both countries’ parliaments ratified the agreements.

If the Czech Republic doesn’t allow its planned base, Poland may not get its base. Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said, “Without a radar in the Czech Republic, the base in Poland will be useless…So the date for starting work on the base is not determined by the speed of our negotiations or by our ratification. The Czech ratification is its necessary condition.” (AP)

Polish President Lech Kaczynski and Obama met to discuss Poland’s missile defense shield. While Kaczynski believes the project will move forward, Obama has not committed to it. (AP)

 
The U.S. and Russia will meet in Geneva in November to discuss the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expires next year. The two countries will continue to discuss whether to renew their arms-reducing agreement. Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, implied that discussions were of a high priority in light of U.S. plans to install missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. (KyivPost)

Speaking of missile defense bases, Russia “expects” to be allowed access to parts of those bases. “A non-permanent presence, meaning limited visits, changes nothing except to reinforce our suspicions,” Prime Minister Lavrov said. “We welcome the idea of a permanent Russian presence and a permanent check, both physical and technical, and this would assuage our fears.” (AFP)

According to a Russian state arms exporter, Russia is not discussing with the Ukraine plans to buy an unfinished missile cruiser for the Russian Navy. In 2005, Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov mentioned Russia as a potential buyer of a missile cruiser. But the exporter’s first deputy general director said the company “has no instructions to buy the cruiser [from Ukraine], although I cannot deny that we were interested in this ship.” Another case of he said/he said? (RIA Novosti)

 
According to RIA Novosti, Russia will not reopen a radar base in Cuba. “This matter is not under consideration,” Sergei Lavrov said at a news conference.
 
The 28-square-mile Lourdes facility, located near Havana, is the largest Russian signal intelligence site abroad. Former President Vladimir Putin closed it in 2001. At one point, 1,000 to 1,500 people occupied the facility.
 
Cuba was a player in the Cold War between the U.S. and Russia. Just 90 miles from our shores, Cuba is a hotbed of political wrangling between the world’s superpowers. Any Russian facility that close to the U.S. is a major concern, naturally. RIA Novosti reports that the Lourdes facility “intercepted transmissions from microwave towers in the United States, communication satellite downlinks, and a wide range of shortwave and high-frequency radio transmissions.”

Speaking of Cuban bases, a Russian newspaper reported in July that a high-placed source said the Kremlin may retaliate against the U.S. if it deployed missile interceptors in Poland or Lithuania. The retaliation would consist of Russia installing Tupolev Tu-160 White Swan supersonic nuclear bombers in Cuba. Former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro didn’t confirm or deny the report. (Source)
 
(Source: RIA Novosti)