http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/us-russia-from-reset-to-regret
There’s little doubt from the reporting of the lackluster meeting between President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 in Mexico yesterday that the White House’s Russia policy is moving from “reset” to “regret.”Of course, we’ve seen this coming for awhile – despite lots of wishful thinking on the administration’s part.
Team Obama’s hope over the last three-plus years has been that Russia would become a partner of the United States on a range of international issues if ties could only be “reset,” pruning away thorny tensions that have grown in the relationship.In other words, if we could just get relations chummy enough, the Kremlin and the White House would become a dynamic duo, tackling a growing list of world problems.
So much for that plan.
One key focus of the “reset” policy was getting Russia to help stop Iran’s expanding nuclear (weapons) program. While supporting some added pressure on Tehran, Moscow hasn’t really come on board.
This week’s P5+1 meeting (the latest in a seemingly endless series) in Moscow on Iranian nukes probably won’t change that.
In fact, after the supposed “reset,” Russia finished building Iran’s first nuclear reactor and provided fuel for it. If Tehran doesn’t return the fuel rods, it could reprocess them for plutonium, providing another avenue for making nukes.
The Russians have been continually cranky about US-led missile defense in Europe, too, seeing it as being aimed at their nuclear deterrent rather than at the growing Iranian missile threat.
