Still the Bear

On one side, we have President Obama and vice-president Biden. On the we have other side we have Prime Minister Putin( a clear case where  the #2 man is really #1) and President Medvedev. Without any  more information than that, which pair outweighs the other? And is it important? Sad to say, and I mean that sincerely, I fear that the Russian duo is the weightier of the two. I remember  Bush  saying that he had looked into Putin’s eyes and  found him trustworthy. This was in June, 2001. It did not necessarily turn out that way in the ensuing years . So, now Bush has moved on and Putin( remember, once KGB , always KGB) is still there.

I suppose that 2, maybe 3  things really started me thinking along these lines, one more so than the other. In recent weeks, both Shimon Peres and Benjamin Neyanyahu have been to Russia  and at the least  met with Medvedev. Did they meet with Putin, doesn’t really matter, now does it? Medvedev made the announcement that Israel  was not planning  a  strike on Iran. Now, examine this  a bit. Israel is our ally, Iran is Russia’s, yet a really important statement was  made by Russia on behalf of Israel.  Perhaps, while there, Netanyahu pushed  for Russia to restrain Iran. Did they agree, hard to say as the bear  seemed  to play his cards close. However, Medvedev reserved the right to sell S-300′s , classified as  defensive weapons by Russia, among other unnaned weapons, to Iran. This particular thing had to be galling to Israel which has tried in vain to prevent such sales.

Then Putin says just few days ago, that he and Medvedev might “switch” places again. In theory then, Putin  could be around for another 10-15 years. Really comforting thought, huh?

Finally, there is the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic that was and now is not. Russia is pleased,  conservatives are up in arms, opinion in Eastern Europe seems mixed , Obama says just chill out guys. It was  never   about Russia anyway. Perhaps, perhaps not. I will admit to a bit of confusion about the  issue. Should we interpret this  as a win for Russia, and a  loss for the United States or maybe a win-win.Do we want better relations with Russia, perhaps want and need is a better way of phrasing it.

What is interesting is that Senator Lindsay Graham, R, SC and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have different views, significantly different, of the President’s views. Realizing that this has been a bit of a ramble, let me just say that a somewhat significant shift on our part would go down better if there had beena  reciprocal  token, albeit small, from the bear. One will note that there was none, for Israel or the United States.

Growll !!