After disdaining arms control, Bush seeks to engage Moscow

[rodeodance]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers




After disdaining arms control, Bush seeks to engage Moscow
Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers

last updated: October 10, 2007 07:22:18 PM

WASHINGTON — President Bush took office disavowing the complex treaty negotiations with Moscow that consumed years of Cold War diplomacy, saying that Russia and the United States had moved beyond decades of nuclear rivalry into an era of cooperation.

But with 15 months left in his second term, his administration and the Kremlin are deadlocked in exactly the kind of diplomatic wrangling that he'd foresworn.

Bush is sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates on a rare joint mission to Moscow this week in a bid to break arms disputes that have helped plunge U.S.-Russian ties to their chilliest depth since the Cold War.

Over Russian objections, Bush is pursuing the deployment of U.S. missile defenses in Eastern Europe. In apparent retaliation, Russian President Vladimir Putin is vowing to pull out of an accord limiting deployments of troops, tanks and combat aircraft in Europe and Russia. Their governments disagree on replacing an expiring treaty that's allowed each side to monitor the other's promised cuts in nuclear weapons.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/v-print/story/20378.html

[Purveyor]

1. Considering the reception Vladimir displayed for France's Sarkozy, this Rice/Gates

pilgrimage could be very entertaining, indeed.

See: Putin Snubs Sarkozy Over Stance On Iran

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3022818

[Deja Q]

2. Russia is the latest hot spot for offshoring, don'cha'know...

If Russia thinks the West is trying to crumble them, why do they take even one US job, a large part of this "West" they claim to hate so much?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/10/world/main3351530.shtml