Secretary of State Rice’s and Secretary of Defense Gates’ recent visit to Russia was widely reported as confrontational and as having made little, or no, progress.  (See the links in our post, “Putin postures, Condi walks the line.”)  There were even reports of a new “cold war.”  But after the international press corps packed up and left Moscow, a different picture is now emerging.  Once again, the mainstream media’s reporting may be ”accuracy challenged.” 

Russia Profile has a series of columns today, in their “Weekly Experts Panel“ introduced by Vladamir Frolov and entitled: A New Opening in U.S.-Russia Relations?  The German news agency, DPA (Deutsche Presse Agentur), also released an op-ed today: “Russia says US suggestions on missile defence are ‘interesting’.”  Compare it to the Russian News Agency’s, Novosti, article.  They are well worth the clicks.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice disappointed a lot of Russians who thought that they might get the chance to see her don ice skates before she left after her recent visit. Wisely, she demurred. Had her “on ice” performance been anything less than perfection, the most embarrassing moment would have been turned into “Condi’s ice follies” and been plastered on front pages around the globe. (”One diplomatic encounter - and hold the ice,” Independent Online, South Africa) Likewise, she is downplaying her chances of success in the Middle East as she heads toward the region for this week’s shuttle diplomacy. (CTV, Canada)

However, in light of recent events in Syria — an Israeli air strike on a military installation that apparently was a site being used to further Syria’s nuclear ambitions — it is astonishing that Condi’s trip is even taking place. More astonishing is the deafening silence from all sides after the fact.  (NYT, “Israel Struck Syrian Nuclear Project, Analysts Say”)

The silence indicates; that other than the likes of Iran’s Ahmadinejad, Al Qaeda, Saudi Arabia’s hard line Wahabis, the Muslim Brotherhood, etc.; there might be a small ray of sanity illuminating the Middle East.

• Syria’s quiet because it doesn’t want to publicly acknowledge that their air defenses are obviously ineffective.
• Israel’s quiet for security reasons surrounding this highly classified mission.
• Many other Arab states, after perfunctory anti-Israeli rhetoric, just wish that the issue would go away and not serve as a cause celeb for further radicalization of their citizens.
• The “Euro-wimps” are muted because they don’t want their own Islamic radicals to take to the streets.
• The Russians don’t want to draw attention to the fact that their military hardware is second-rate.
• The United States wants to remain honest brokers for a Middle East peace — so no crowing about the Israelis and their US military hardware (rumored to have been tweaked by the Israelis) has been permitted. Even the liberal US mainstream media has been relatively silent. They don’t want to admit that military action can accomplish anything.
• And most importantly, the collective silence indicates that there is at least a tacit understanding that a nuclear conflict in the Middle East would have no winners — at least for those who don’t see themselves as an instrument of prophecy, like Ahmadinejad, for whom nuclear annihilation is a foreign policy goal.

For those of us that grew up with fallout shelters, the birth of the Emergency Broadcast System, nuclear attack drills at our schools, and MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) as facts of life; we knew that there might be hope for the future when we saw Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev in Iceland shaking hands and pop radio started playing Sting’s hit song Russians, whose refrain is: I hope the Russians love their children too. (Click here to listen to audio excerpt.) Let’s hope for some similar reassuring developments about the Middle East in the near future — the fruits of Condi’s efforts, and in spite of “amateur hour” diplomatic meddling and political grandstanding, like Nancy Pelosi’s summer visit to Damascus. Perhaps, at this moment in history, there are enough inhabitants of the Middle East that love their children to overcome those that don’t in the pursuit of peace.

In a moment of political theater designed for domestic Russian consumption, Putin pounded on his political chest by “dissing” Secretary Rice and Secretary Gates with a more than “fashionably late” arrival to their meeting yesterday while delivering a message that the planned anti-ballistic missile shield in Europe would trigger ominous changes in US-Russia relations. He hinted that this could potentially trigger a new Cold War. (Chicago Tribune, “From Russia, little love for U.S. plan;” LA Times, “Rice and Gates get nowhere with Putin” in St Louis Today; Australian Broadcasting Company, “US rejects Russian appeals to halt missile scheme;” Mangalorian Star, “Putin threatens to withdraw from arms treaty;” AP in Pravda “Putin makes Condoleezza Rice laugh in Moscow;” MSN Video)

Condi reiterated the facts that Russia has nothing to fear from an anti-ballistic missile system for Europe — especially one in which they’ve been asked to participate! Putin would do more to further Russian relations with former Warsaw Pact nations (damaged by years of Soviet-era occupation) by working towards their common defense and economic development than actively posturing to block such activities. Could you imagine the “fallout” if a former “Eastern Block” nation were hit by an Iranian nuclear, chemical or biological device? Even if it were delivered by Teheran’s terrorist proxies? The damage to Russia’s relationships with its neighbors would take decades to repair until memories of Moscow’s Ayatollah-friendly policies faded.

However, it must be too much for a former KGB officer, like Putin, to accept that the US really isn’t a threat to his nation even if we are increasingly friendly with their formerly occupied neighbors. Unfortunately, Russian history doesn’t lend itself to a national psyche that favors cooperation with foreign powers over confrontation — especially in light of their internal politics that involve a multitude of ethnic and religious factions, many of whom have been savagely suppressed. It may be many years, until a new generation of Russian leaders that grew up in the post-Soviet era, before there are fundamental changes in our relationship with the Russians.

Until then, Condi’s consistent message will be essential if we are to reach a resolution to these areas of friction with our former arch enemy. She will stress political and personal liberty (BBC, “Rice holds Russia rights meetings”), continue to make offers “to partner” in strategic defense, anti-terrorist activities, and economic development until there is a generation of Russian leaders willing to listen. It may be a long wait. Hopefully, the rest of Europe and the world won’t just learn to work around Russian intransigence, thus leading to further isolation of Russia and increasing the possibility of political instability. (Khaleej Times, “Assertive Russia;” New Europe, “Five countries agree on JV to build Odessa-Brody-Gdansk”)

From Russia with Love originally was an Ian Fleming novel (Supposedly, it one of JFK’s favorite books.) Then it was adapted for the silver screen, with Sean Connery staring as secret agent 007 saving the world while seducing exotic women. More recently, it’s become a shoot-’em-up video game. Now, it is going to be adapted for the War on Terror — like the “kiss of death” that Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) gave Fredo in Godfather II. According to RussiaBlog, in a recent article, License to Kill, President Putin, last Wednesday, planted the fatal “kiss” on the Iraqi insurgents responsible for the kidnapping and murder of four Russian diplomats. The Russian leader announced his intention to “find and destroy” those responsible for the attack after a meeting with Saudi Prince Salman bin Abdel Asis al Saud in Moscow. In comparing the American press and Congress to their Russian counterparts, the author, Yuri Mamchur, observed:

Not many people in the world are aware that since Putin was appointed President in 1999, Russia has revived its tradition of hunting down terrorists abroad. Given the traditional centralization of powers in Russia and the common national goal of revenge, there will be no Russian newspapers posting details about ongoing counterterrorist operations on their front pages, as happens with the New York Times in America. The Russian Duma is also not the U.S. Congress; Putin’s order “to kill” has elicited nary a word of dissent.

Recent Russian assistance, abeit limited, in dealing with Iran may be, in part, based on Putin’s disappointment with Iranian and Hamas’ leaders who promised assistance in recovering the diplomats. But after the murders occured, they could only offer the lame excuse that the terrorist group couldn’t be “reached in time.” Obviously, since the “The Mujahadeen Shura Council of Iraq” is in Iraq there will have to be at least tacit assistance from Iraqi and Coalition forces. President Putin made it clear that he expects help, “Russia hopes its friends would help to identify the killers,” he said after meeting with the Saudi Prince.

During Dr. Rice’s visit to Moscow, this matter is sure to be on the Russian agenda for discussion. This will be an interesting story to follow as it unfolds — assuming that it ever gets reported.

Update: MSNBC picked up the AP article, Putin orders forces to destroy hostage killers.

The Telegraph Group reported today that “Condoleezza Rice, and her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, traded barbs during bad-tempered talks at a foreign ministers’ summit in New York on Iran’s nuclear programme.” (link)

The disagreement prolonged the planned 30-minute session to over 2 hours and, apparently, ruined the subsequent diplomatic dinner.

“By the time the foreign ministers sat down to eat at 10.30pm, their sea bass was shrivelled and the bickering continued…”

This was the first full day on the job for Margaret Beckett, the new British Foreign Secretary who replaced Condi’s personal friend, Jack Straw.

One official in Washington said: “It was a pretty extraordinary session and everyone’s been talking about it in private since. It was certainly quite an introduction to the rough and tumble of the new job for Mrs. Beckett.”

The source of all this rancor appears to be VP Dick Cheney:

“Lavrov arrived….seething about a speech on Kremlin policies delivered by Dick Cheney…. the previous week in Lithuania….the other ministers were left in no doubt Lavrov’s approach reflected fury over the Cheney speech.”

We’re wondering if Condi’s Russian vocabulary includes some of the names that Lavrov has, no doubt, been calling her recently. We doubt that they’re the type of words taught in University classes. It would be interesting to hear if she has a Russian nickname that Putin and Lavrov use when discussing her and US policy. (If any Pravda reporters are reading this, please e-mail us the answer!) Some of her English nicknames are quite illustrative: forty-four, velvet hammer, and warrior princess.