Despite MSM Spin, Obama Accomplishes Nothing in Russia
Posted by Bill Dupray
on Jul 7 2009 Filed under Politics, Russia.
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Another Obama talk-fest and another foreign policy adventure lands with a thud.
Here is the New York Times lauding The One’s success.
President Obama signed an agreement on Monday to cut American and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals by at least one-quarter, a first step in a broader effort intended to reduce the threat of such weapons drastically and to prevent their further spread to unstable regions.
Mr. Obama, on his first visit to Russia since taking office, and President Dmitri A. Medvedev agreed on the basic terms of a treaty to reduce the number of warheads and missiles to the lowest levels since the early years of the cold war. The new treaty, to be finished by December, would be subject to ratification by the Senate and could then lead to talks next year on more substantial reductions.
They are going to “drastically” reduce the threat by cutting the nukes to “early cold war levels.” Dramatic, right?
Not so much.
I mean this is an arms reduction deal, right? It seems, at a minimum, you ought to have an agreement on the amount of arms you are going to reduce. So what did Barry bring home?
From Politico.
The biggest achievement touted from the summit — and the only document the two men signed — was a nonbinding “joint understanding” setting target ranges for a new round of nuclear arms reductions.
But a look at the fine print shows the deal is less than meets the eye, experts said. The two presidents punted on how to count total weapons or total warheads — a crucial detail in the mathematics of arms reductions. And they committed in writing only to finish the deal “at the earliest possible date,” though Obama said it would be done by year’s end, when the current Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expires.
“It’s small progress. There are key issues being kicked down the road,” said John Isaacs of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. “There are a lot of details still to be worked out — a lot of devils still to go.”
And the non-agreed-upon number of weapons will need to be reduced to that non-agreed-upon figure within 7 years. Really stuck their necks out on that one.
And nobody at the press conference thought it important to note that Russia thinks the missile defense shield promised to Poland is probably a deal-breaker if we keep our promise to the Poles.
On the critical issue of Russia’s assistance in stopping Iran’s rush for the bomb? Nothing happening there either.
However, when it came time for the public news conference, Medvedev couldn’t bring himself to single out Iran, which purchases weapons and many other goods from Russia.
“There are regions around the world where the presence of nuclear arms would create huge problems,” Medvedev said. “There is no sense in naming them. But it’s quite obvious that on the situation in the Middle East, on the Korean Peninsula, will depend the climate throughout the globe. … We should make our utmost to prevent any negative trends there. And we are ready to do that,” he said.
Experts say the U.S. will have little success containing the nuclear threat in Iran without a full-court press from Russia.
But Obama had his version of Bush’s “I looked into his eyes” moment.
“I trust President Medvedev to not only listen and to negotiate constructively, but also to follow up — follow through on the agreements that are contained here today,” Obama said, adding that he was “very appreciative.”
Sounds like Medvedev listened and negotiated very constructively already. When you don’t have an agreement in the first place, it’s pretty easy to follow through on nothing.
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Short URL: http://libertypundits.net/?p=4967
As the WSJ pointed out, it’s easier to talk about Russia’s nukes than what they did in Georgia.