A true test

Reuters reports this morning that Russia is warning against unilateral sanctions against Iran. here is the operative portion of the Reuters article:

"Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the United States and other Western nations on Thursday against imposing unilateral sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, Interfax news agency reported.

The European Union has said it may impose unilateral sanctions if a U.N. Security Council resolution fails.

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has been lobbying Western companies not to do business with Iran, but has not imposed sanctions against them.

Countries facing Security Council sanctions "cannot under any circumstances be the subject of one-sided sanctions imposed by one or other government bypassing the Security Council", Lavrov was quoted as saying by Interfax.

"The position of the United States today does not display understanding of this absolutely clear truth."


Let's translate this from Russian to English. Tussia is saying that it does not want to have sanctions put in place against those who do business with Iran since Russian firms are big suppliers of arms and industrial goods to that country. Indeed, the Russians are, in essence, warning that if there are such unilateral sanction put in place, they will do all they can to overturn them.

Well it certainly seems that President Obama has gotten a great deal of Russian cooperation as a result of his appeasement of them. First, he pulled the rug out from under our East European friends and allies like Poland and the Czech Republic by withdrawing the antimissile defense systems from those countries to placate Russia. Then, he did nothing once in office to support the Georgians in their battle to oust the Russians from the two provinces of Geogia that were overrun in 2008. (One may wonder when Obama will tell the Russians that they cannot build settlement for Russian speakers in Georgia, or does he save that nonsense only for Israel?). Then, Obama signed a nuclear reduction treaty that forces the US to lower its nuclear weapons totals but puts no obligations on the Russians other than keeping their weapons at the current levels. Oh, and this treaty also gives the Russians the ability to walk away if the US starts installing missile defenses that might protect us or our allies from Iranian missiles.

In return for all of the American concessions, Obama has gotten exactly nothing from the Russians. Now they are undermining the move towards sanctions against Iran.

One thing you have to say for Obama's foreign policy: It has been the most ineffective since the days of Jimmy Carter and the Iran hostages.