One of President Barack Obama’s first foreign policy “victories” was his announcement, on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Poland, that he was scrapping the Eastern European missile defense shield the Gorge W. Bush administration had planned with the Czech and Polish governments. This was also a major victory for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin’s minion Dmitry Medvedev celebrated Obama’s actions: “We appreciate the responsible approach of the U.S. president toward implementing our agreements.”
In other words, pulling back the missile defense shield was part of Obama’s “reset” of relations with Russia. Obama’s idea for a smaller missile shield not in Poland was intended to be “less threatening” to Russia and was greeted that way.
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“Obama has been seeking a stronger relationship with Russia,” CNN explained at the time, “and better cooperation from the Kremlin to support tough U.N. economic sanctions against Iran if it continues to pursue its nuclear ambitions.”
“Missile defense has been a sore point in relations between Washington and Moscow, with Russia believing the shield would ultimately erode its strategic nuclear deterrent.”
There are debates over which missile defense system better protected Europe (and most weakened Russia), but Obama’s change was proposed and accepted as a peace offering to Putin at the time. The biggest beneficiaries were the corporations that were closest to the Obama administration.
Immediately after Obama clawed back Bush’s missile shield, Russia welcomed Obama’s favorite big businesses. “Shortly after the pullback on the shield programme was announced,” reported Reuters at the time, “Russia’s government said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would meet several U.S. executives on Friday from firms including General Electric.”
GE was as close to Obama as any company in America. GE CEO Jeff Immelt was Obama’s manufacturing czar. GE partnered with the Obama White House on supporting Obamacare, rail subsidies, embryonic stem cell research, and more. Expanding the Export-Import Bank was a major priority of both the Obama administration and GE. GE and Obama agreed on outlawing the standard light bulb (though Bush signed the bill that did it), and GE benefitted from Obama’s bank bailouts.
Sure enough, Putin met Immelt at a Black Sea resort in 2009. Two years later, GE bragged that Putin graced Immelt with his presence when GE created a joint venture with Russia’s energy giant, Inter RAO, and its CEO, oligarch Boris Kovalchuk.
Wall Street analysts named BP as another beneficiary of the missile defense reset. BP at the time was very cozy with Obama. The company sided with Obama on the bailouts and the stimulus, supported Obama’s climate legislation, and employed as a lobbyist the Podesta Group, co-founded by Obama confidant John Podesta.
