“We always believe that sanctions and pressure are not the way out,” said Jiang Yu, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, during a news conference. “At present, it is not conducive to diplomatic efforts.”
On Wednesday, the White House savored success after Russia, a longtime opponent of economic sanctions, said it would consider tough new sanctions against Iran.
Of course, there was no secret annex involved in our recent decision to scrap ground-based missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic. Indeed, the Russians think that the decision was a just reward for Russia allowing us to supply our forces in Afghanistan through Russia:
Russian envoy to NATO Dmitri Rogozin said Moscow welcomes the decision and sees it as an appropriate response to Russia’s offer to allow U.S. supplies to flow into Afghanistan through Russia.
Call me cynical if you will, but since we didn't get Russia's firm commitment before our ill-timed September 17th announcement, I doubt we will get Russia's help after we've given up our chip.
And if Russia does agree to not block sanctions in the UN, it will only be because they've discussed it with China, and China has agreed to be a team player and do the dirty deed of vetoing sanctions.
Not to worry. I'm sure the world will soon scramble to throw concessions and cooperation at the feet of our non-Bush president out of simple gratitude that he is not Bush.
