Clinton Says Russia Cooperative
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday to discuss how Russia and the U.S. will deal with Iran. Clinton echoed the president’s resetting Russian relations meme, and promised to stop criticizing the former Soviet Union about its human rights abuses, unlike the Bush administration.
Sounds like more appeasement. The U.S. must make nice with Russia if we hope to see any Russian cooperation with containing Iran. What has the U.S. received in return?
So far, not much, although Clinton said, “Russia has been extremely cooperative in the work that we have done together.” In return for Russia’s help, the U.S. will ease up on pushing Russia to issue tougher sanctions against Iran and work on diplomacy first. Should that fail, the U.S. will resume sanctions talks.
Iran purportedly agreed to allow inspections of the newly discovered second nuclear site. It’s probably why Lavrov said, “At the current stage, all forces should be thrown at supporting the negotiating process. Threats of new sanctions and pressure against Iran under current circumstances are counterproductive.”
Clinton also echoed Barack Obama’s view about Iran’s “right’ to develop peaceful nuclear power, but not weapons, and contended that Russia and the U.S. are in agreement on this point. After talks with Russia, Clinton said the U.S. will keep up the pressure against the defiant North Korea, which tested five missiles this week. While the U.S. is pushing for six-party talks, the rogue state seeks bilateral talks with the U.S.
(Sources: Associated Press and AFP)
Tags: Dmitry Medvedev, Hillary Clinton, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Sergei Lavrov