New York Times — Obama to Seek New Arms Control Deal in Moscow
In Moscow, President Obama got brushed back on his efforts to engage on issues of the courts and democracy. With Obama expressing concerns about the phony trial and lengthy imprisonment of a defenestrated oligarch who had become a political rival of Vladimir Putin, Putin’s man, President Dmitry Medvedev, laughed it off with a comparison to Bernard Madoff’s 150-year sentence.
But the Democracy posturing now out of the way, Clifford Levy and Peter Baker explain that Obama can get to what he’s gone to Russia for – arms control. Obama’s goal is a successor deal to the soon-to-expire Start treaty that would shrink both countries’ nuclear arsenals from 2,200 warheads to 1,500.
The Russians acted first in the concessional ballet, allowing a corridor through their airspace for supplies heading to Afghanistan. Obama will now be expected to reciprocate by nixing a missile defense program designed to protect Europe from the soon-to-be nuclear powered Islamist dictators in Iran.
