Saying Moscow and its allies "are ready for full-fledged, comprehensive cooperation," the Russian leader seemed to imply that Moscow's help on Afghanistan is contingent on a broader list of changes it wants from the new U.S. administration.
These include a halt to NATO enlargement in Europe and the cancellation of plans for a U.S. missile-defense system on Russia's western borders.
His mix of conciliatory language and implicit demand for U.S. concessions may represent a risky attempt to pursue conflicting strategic goals at a moment when U.S. policy on Afghanistan is being remade by President Obama.
Russia has long been irritated by the U.S. military presence in what is considers its natural areas of influence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The Kremlin is widely believed to be behind the move against the United States by Kyrgyzstan's government, which submitted a draft bill to parliament Wednesday that would close the Manas Air Base.
But Moscow, which fought its own bloody and unsuccessful 10-year war to control Afghanistan, also does not want the country's instability spreading north toward Russia. The Kremlin has said it is open to aiding U.S. and NATO efforts in Afghanistan by helping to find alternatives to Pakistani supply lines that are increasingly threatened by militant attacks.
Ah. If Russia wanted to help, they wouldn't have engineered our troubles with Kyrgyzstan.
And if Russia truly worries about our failure in Afghanistan they wouldn't threaten helping us supply our troops through their territory and the territory of the ex-Soviet republics that Moscow wants back inside Russia.
If Russia doesn't want us to expand NATO into Georgia and Ukraine, perhaps the Russians would stop acting like a predatory wolf waiting to cull a weak ex-republic from the herd. If Russia didn't appear to be a threat to the sovereignty of Georgia and Ukraine, they wouldn't care to join the alliance. And if Russia stopped trying to revel in outcast status and instead join the West, the Russians wouldn't care if Georgia and Ukraine joined NATO.
Finally, if Russia doesn't want us to deploy anti-ballistic missile defenses in Eastern Europe, why doesn't the Kremlin stop arming Iran and going to sleep at night praying the Iranians will nuke an American target to take us down a peg at no cost to Russia?
And lastly, why do we bother listening to the hand puppet Medvedev when Putin is the real power in Russia?
Ah, the joys of talking to nut cases.
