It's been an excellent year in eeevil for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Late last year, Russia revised its constitution to extend the presidential term to six years, paving the way for his return to the presidency in 2012. In the spring, he took another shirtless vacation with his crew. And in a recent marathon four-hour phone-in with handpicked citizens, Putin gave his strongest hint yet that he plans to be in charge until, oh, about 2024.
Now Putin seems to be floating a few ideas about restoring the "balance of power" in the world. On a visit today to Vladivostok, Russia's maximum leader premier said Moscow "must continue developing offensive systems" that could fool or overwhelm U.S. missile defenses. Such upgrades, he said, would help "preserve a strategic balance" with the United States.
Putin's comments come as the United States and Russia try to hammer out a new arms-control accord. According to Putin, the main obstacle to a new agreement is the U.S. focus on building anti-missile defenses. "What is the problem?" he told reporters. "The problem is that our American partners are building an anti-missile shield and we are not building one."
By pursuing missile defense, Putin added, "our [U.S.] partners could feel themselves fully secure and will do whatever they want, which upsets the balance."
Hey, wait a minute! Didn't the Obama administration drop the previous administration's plans to station missile defense assets in Europe? That missile-defense scheme, the Russians argued, was really aimed at them, and canceling those plans was supposed to uh, give the United States more leverage in arms-control talks. So what gives?
In some respects, the issue Putin is raising isn't new. When Keir Lieber and Daryl Press wrote about the rise of U.S. nuclear primacy in Foreign Affairs back in 2006, it didn't get much attention at home. But the article, which argued that Russia's deterrent had seriously deteriorated since the end of the Cold War, prompted a major uproar in the Russian press. Clearly, the Kremlin has concerns about U.S. investment in missile defense -- and recent advances in anti-missile technology -- that go well beyond stationing a few interceptors in Poland.
But for anyone who watches the current debate over missile defense and arms control, Putin's complaints about "strategic balance" show some clever negotiating skills (Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has also suggested that he favors developing new offensive systems). U.S. missile defense has been sold in the United States, and to Russia, as a counter to a limited missile threat from rogue states -- not as a defense against Russia's substantial arsenal. But the administration's concessions to Russia on ballistic missile defense, which hurt a lot of feelings east of the Oder-Neisse line, also don't seem to have won much leverage.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, President John F. Kennedy helped defuse the situation by secretly offering to dismantle Jupiter missiles stationed in Turkey. He was giving away a chip that was worth nothing: The missiles were already considered obsolete. In this case, the administration gave something away before the bargaining really started.
[PHOTO: Premier.ru]
ALSO:
