Last week, a senior Russian official met two Republican senators and came away warning that the GOP would drive Washington’s relations with Moscow into the ground if they came back to power.
Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s envoy to NATO, met with Republican Senators Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., in Washington, after which he remarked, “Today I had the impression that I was transported in a time machine back several decades, and in front of me sat two monsters of the Cold War, who looked at me not with pupils, but with targeting sights.”
Rogozin’s language proves once again that the administration’s ‘reset’ with the Russia is, an exercise in futility. His appraisal seems a bit dramatic, and frankly, paranoid.
Kyl and Kirk are notorious national security hawks, and have led their Senate colleagues in a serious game of hardball with the Obama administration over strategic issues. During the ratification of the New START agreement in late 2010, Kyl successfully compelled the administration to provide a guarantee that it would support the funding necessary to modernize the U.S. nuclear stockpile. This makes a great deal of sense, as the U.S. is currently the only nuclear country without a modernization program. If we continue to reduce the number of weapons in our arsenal, it would at least make sense to ensure that the ones we have left are safe and reliable.
It was also because of Senator Kyl’s leadership that President Obama sent a letter to the Senate promising that any missile defense cooperation with the Russians will not limit U.S. missile defense. Putting aside skepticism regarding the likelihood of the President sufficiently following through on his commitments, he did publicly commit, nonetheless. Now it is up to Members of Congress to do their utmost to ensure he follows through.
Senator Kirk spear-headed a letter to the President in November of last year inquiring about the kinds of concessions the U.S. may be making to secure the U.S.-Russia missile defense cooperative agreement. The letter also included a series of bold, yes, but perfectly reasonable questions including, “Can you certify that there is not currently any ballistic missile, any nuclear weapon, an/or chemical or biological weapons proliferation taking place between Iran and Russia or Russian entities?” and “To what extent will Russian siting and targeting of U.S. allies including Georgia, Ukraine, and Poland, impact the proposal to include Russia in a NATO missile defense program?” These are good questions that require satisfactory responses from an administration so determined to win over the Kremlin’s favor. Surely the Obama administration doesn’t want to snuggle up to a country that is directly contributing to the dangers that threaten the U.S. and our allies.
But the concerns of Senators Kyl and Kirk are not of the Cold War era variety as Rogozin accuses. To the contrary, the Senators are committed to seeing the U.S. is totally beyond outdated Cold War thinking and are rightly concerned that the White House and Kremlin are not. To be beyond Cold War era antics means the U.S. and Russia are free to build as robust defenses as they please, and the two nuclear giants no longer insist on having the ability to “mutually destroy” each other with nuclear weapons; it means Russia no longer bullies, intimidates and encroaches on its sovereign neighbors, and it means the Russian government doesn’t deal or allow private Russian citizens to deal arms to enemies of the U.S. We have a long way to go.
Piling on the layers of hypocrisy, in the same interview that Rogozin tries to ostracize two highly regarded and intellectually serious senators by labeling them “radical” and calling them “Cold War monsters” he also threatens “…either we will achieve some sort of deeper cooperation in the military and political spheres that will allow us to pass “the point of no return” in our relationship… today’s “thaw”, known as “the reset” will be demolished and big ferocious colds will come …” These brash ultimatums come from the top. Russian President Medvedev threatened the U.S. and Russia would reenter an arms race if the U.S. did not come to an agreement with the Russians on missile defense.
Rogozin, however, had only kind words for President Obama, in contrast to Senators Kyl and Kirk. This might be the biggest clue that the administration is on the wrong track, and their work is more vital than ever.
Rebeccah Heinrichs is an adjunct fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former manager of the Congressional Missile Defense Caucus.
