Cold War on a Warmer Planet

Now this is politics. In the next few days, President Obama will journey to Russia. Almost 20 years after the cold war ended, tensions between the two countries are still there. In fact, Obama said yesterday that former Russian President Vladmir Putin, who “still has a lot of sway,” needs to be reminded that the Cold War is over.

So much sway that Obama will in fact meet with Putin, now Russian Prime Minister, as well as current Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who was more or less chosen by Putin.  "I think that it's important that even as we move forward with President Medvedev that Putin understand that the old Cold War approaches to U.S.-Russian relations is outdated. ... Putin has one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new,” said Obama.

Yikes. I wonder what the Russian papers are printing and what Putin is saying about all of this? There is another layer to this, as well. With the climate change summit in Copenhagen coming later this year, negotiations between the two countries will take on an entirely higher level of importance. Currently Russia is utilizing an accounting loophole to basically not do anything about lowering its carbon emissions for the agreement- the U.S. has just passed the landmark climate change bill here, and the EU and China continue to push for stronger action and greater reductions.

With Obama leading the United States, a country loathe to restrict any kind of growth and historically not harsh on corporations or industry (aren’t we trying to get them MAKING money again?), the progress was expected and applauded. With Medvedev/ Putin in charge of Russia, the expectation is for a continued haughty disregard for what the rest of the world is going for as far as battling climate change.

We’ll see what happens in December.

All is not sour, though...

Obama has been complimentary of Russia for their cooperation in international efforts to get Iran and North Korea off their nuclear development programs. Well, nobody wants them to have nuclear capabilities so that is not too surprising that everyone WITH nuclear weapons wants to keep them both in the WITHOUT category.

Another thing is happening in December, though- not just the Copenhagen summit. There is a strategic arms reduction treaty between the two countries that expires in December and the leaders are meeting to discuss a new treaty to replace that treaty.

"I think that it's important that even as we move forward with President Medvedev that Putin understand that the old Cold War approaches to U.S.-Russian relations is outdated - that's it's time to move forward in a different direction," Obama said.

They will also discuss Afghanistan, where Obama insists that U.S. goals can be met there “without us increasing our troop levels.”

Obama also said that any further decisions on whether to increase troop levels there would be based on whether al-Qaida and other groups are able to establish safe havens, if the Afghan army/ police presence can secure the country on their own, and whether the border with Pakistan can be held secure.

"We can't tolerate a situation in which terrorist organizations act with impunity,” said Obama.So there will be much to talk about- and let’s hope it stays warmer than the cold war.