Reporting from Moscow, The Times’ Michael Binyon writes, “Russia ‘will stand by coalition even if Iraq is attacked“:
In an interview with The Times, [Foreign Minister Igor] Ivanov said: ‘We would hope that the US and UK do not make the same mistake again.’ A strike would deal ‘a serious blow’ to the coalition. But he stopped short of any threat to cut off Russian help for the anti-terrorist campaign, which he insisted Russia supported.
‘It would not be expedient to issue any ultimatums to say that we would withdraw from the coalition,’ he said. ‘Participation in this coalition is not some present or gift to give to someone, but in our own interests. We have common positions with Britain on this.’
Russia, of course, has been one of Iraq’s few supporters since the Gulf War. Now they’re on our side — even as some of our more traditional allies hem, haw, carp, sneer, and squirm. Splendid. Russia’s sitting on a whole mess of oil (whereas the French, bless ’em, continue to hope wine, cheese, and overcrusted breads never become fungible commodities…)
We kid the French — but only because we (yawn) care…
[via Kyle Still]
I’m really glad the Russians are being so accomodating, but it seems that we aren’t doing enough for them. I know, I know, they’re crazy, they’re still repressive, and they’re running the Chechen war.
But what we see today is a far cry from the Soviet Union: it really is a society that’s struggling to be a democracy with a free market. <i>They</i> should not have been slapped with the steel tariff. On the contrary, we should be going out of our way to extend them favors–like free trade agreements–, aid–like help in dismantling nuclear weaposn–, and some sincerity when it comes to negotiating nuclear arms reductions.
If we’re right to expand NATO, we need to allay their fears of Western encroachment. We’re not allying with Georgia for the long run, so we should get our guys out of there as soon as they’re done.
We need to be encouraging Putin’s tilt to the West, and undermining the anti-Western forces within that country. I’m skeptical of how such a strategy might work in, say, China: but I’m all for appeasing our friends, especially when the stakes are so high.