First, on the former. Iran is reportedly sending not only more drones but also short range ballistic missiles to Russia. As far as US tut-tutting over how this could affect revival of the Iran nuclear deal? Well, the EU portion of the "quartet" had (temporarily?) walked away from it a few months ago. Add in the current round of turmoil in Iran, and the bipartisan foreign policy establishment's presumable hope that this could overthrow the mullahs — along with questions about the health status of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei — and the jeopardizing of renewing the Iran nuclear detail is an idle threat. (As far as earlier back-off from the West, Iran has its own fair share of blame.)
As far as DoD tut-tutting over how much this signals Putin's "isolation," he's still got money to buy all of this from Iran, doesn't he?
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As for deposing Putin, which Warmonger Joe said this spring, causing White House staff to madly scramble to walk that back?
"Replace him with whom?" To riff on Lincoln telling the Radicals in 1862 that he needed "somebody," not "anybody," to replace McClellan?
Per the Economist, the most likely "anybodies" might be even worse than Vladimir V., at least from the US foreign policy establishment's view.
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Foreign Affairs' Kremlinology is a semi-fail. On the issue of Russian GDP expected to contract 6 percent this year? Without comparing that the NATO countries' GDP, or EU GDP or US GDP, it's pretty much a nothingburger. I mean, we KNOW EU GDP will contract the second half of this year. US GDP likely so. But, it IS from Nat-Sec Nutsacks™ so that's why you don't get the context. (Germany already expects recession next year.) Also, Finland and Sweden aren't yet members of NATO.
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