A messy Politico article on the challenge that Russia presents to the Obama administration includes this delightful selection:
But Medvedev's first, hostile move may actually have backed Obama into a corner on the missile system, which is set to be based in Poland and the Czech Republic, said Gary Schmitt, a Russia scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, who said he's concerned Russia will take advantage of Obama if he backs away from supporting the system.
"If you decide you're going to pull out of [the missile defense] agreement in any fashion, it won't be seen for policy reasons, it will be seen as a sign of backing down from Moscow," he said. "What's going to matter is how Moscow reads that."
Yes, policy reasons don't matter. The only thing that matters is getting into a pissing contest with Russia. That's how we won, um, the Iraq war? Wait, has that strategy ever been successful? But indeed the initial negative Russian response has blown over and it's likely there will be some positive ground to make up through work on other issues like Iran's nuclear weapons program.
One other great thing about this article: "Obama enters office signaling that he will continue the policies of President Bush's late second term in Iraq." No, he doesn't. Indeed, he's entering promising to withdraw from Iraq within something like16 months, a choice the current president vehemently opposes. If there are any similarities between Obama's policies and Bush's, it will only be because actors like the Iraqi government forced Bush into certain deals, like the Status of Forces Agreement, in part because of signals received from Obama.
--Tim Fernholz
