When is a negotiation not a negotiation? And a rejection not a rejection? Apparently in the Alice in Wonderland exchange of notes and replies between the United States and Russia. President Obama sent a secret letter to the Russian president suggesting if Iran did not have a nuclear and ballistic missile program the United States wouldn’t need to build a missile defense shield. The Russians replied that they had no interest in trading anything to prevent the United States from building missile defense sites in Europe. They were just dead-sent …
We wish we were more surprised by the news this morning that the Obama Administration sent a secret letter to the Kremlin offering to turn tail on U.S. missile defense commitments to Eastern Europe in exchange for Russian help stopping Iran from developing long-range weapons. But former assistant secretary of state and Heritage vice president Kim Holmes saw this coming: A Turkish general once said: “The problem with having the Americans as your allies is you never know when they´ll turn around and stab themselves in the back.” On the …
Describing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s message in a private meeting with the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates Monday, a U.S. official told the Washington Post: “She said we are under no illusions about Iran and our eyes are wide open.” Well someone in the Obama Administration is under a huge illusion, because the Moscow newspaper Kommersant also reported yesterday that President Barack Obama sent a secret letter to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev weeks ago suggesting that he would halt development of the United States’ missile defense program …
Despite Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Europe last week, and Secretary of State Clinton’s meeting with the Czech Foreign Minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, this week, we still don’t know whether this Administration will honor U.S. agreements with Poland and the Czech Republic to deploy elements of a U.S. missile defense shield in Europe (known as the ‘third site’ deployment). Obama has successfully–and probably deliberately–provided enough ambiguity to make a decision either way. On the one hand, he has pledged to field defenses against WMD attacks but on the other he …
Reuters reports: The United States is ready to look at re-modeling its missile defense plans to include Moscow, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Friday in a concession to Russian opposition. … The Kremlin has been pressing Washington to give ground on the proposed missile shield in exchange for Russia helping supply the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan — a priority for new President Barack Obama. … “(Washington is) open to the possibility of cooperation, both with Russia and NATO partners, in relation to a new configuration for missile defense …
Yesterday in Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took up President Barack Obama’s oft-repeated invitation to engage in direct talks with the United States. President Ahmadinejad told a rally celebrating the 30th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution: “It is clear that change should be fundamental, not tactical, and our people want real changes.” What is not clear is how much longer President Ahmadinejad will be president. There is a good chance he will lose the June 12 election to former President Mohammad Khatami. But remember, it was under Khatami that, …
Heritage fellow James Carafano writes in the DC Examiner: No issue carries greater potential for crisis than the growing threat of missile attack. Last week, Iran launched its first homemade satellite into space. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi assured an alarmed world that “Iran’s space advancement serves no military purpose.” He is probably right… today. But Americans should be worried today, for the same reason they worried when the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957: the launch demonstrates the increasing sophistication of a hostile nation’s ballistic missile program. Layer that on …
This past Saturday, Vice President Joe Biden gave a troubling speech at the 45th Munich Security Conference. Heritage Director for Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom calls the speech “one of the weakest projections of U.S. leadership on foreign soil in recent memory. The message was confused, apologetic, over-conciliatory, and remarkably lacking in substance and detail.” Gardiner details: Iran In essence, Biden offered a quid pro quo deal with Iran–the kind the European Union has offered for several years with absolutely nothing to show for it except spectacular failure. … There …
Media reports and anonymous US and South Korean officials suggest North Korea is preparing to test launch a long-range Taepo Dong-2 missile. A missile launch, or even observable preparations for such a launch, would be the next step in Pyongyang’s escalating efforts to pressure South Korea and the U.S. to soften their policies toward North Korea. Pyongyang’s increasingly bellicose campaign is directed primarily at forcing President Lee Myung-bak to abandon requirements for conditionality, reciprocity, and transparency in South Korean engagement with the North. Pyongyang is, however, also concurrently sending a …
Yesterday at The Huffington Post, retired Lt. Gen. Robert Gard Jr. attacked The Heritage Foundation’s (unreleased) documentary “33 Minutes,” due out in February 2009. After viewing the seven minute trailer, Gard fired off a series of criticisms, each addressed below. Surely, it would have been prudent to wait until viewing the entire documentary, but nonetheless: Criticism No. 1: Missile defense will not protect against a terrorist with a nuclear weapon. The author highlights a quote from the trailer by Ambassador Robert Joseph, former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control …
