CrosswordNewsletters
DAILY BEAST
ALL
  • Cheat Sheet
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Entertainment
  • Media
  • Innovation
  • Opinion
  • World
  • U.S. News
  • Scouted
  • Travel
CHEAT SHEET
    POLITICS
    • Fever Dreams
    • Biden World
    • Elections
    • Opinion
    • National Security
    • Congress
    • Pay Dirt
    • The New Abnormal
    • Right Richter
    • Trumpland
    MEDIA
    • Confider
    • Daytime Talk
    • Late-Night
    • Fox News
    U.S. NEWS
    • Identities
    • Crime
    • Race
    • LGBT
    • Extremism
    • Coronavirus
    WORLD
    • Russia
    • Europe
    • China
    • Middle East
    INNOVATION
    • Science
    TRAVEL
      ENTERTAINMENT
      • TV
      • Movies
      • Music
      • Comedy
      • Sports
      • Sex
      • TDBs Obsessed
      • Awards Shows
      • The Last Laugh
      FOOD & BEVERAGE
        CULTURE
        • Power Trip
        • Fashion
        • Books
        • Royalist
        TECH
        • Disinformation
        SCOUTED
        • Clothing
        • Technology
        • Beauty
        • Home
        • Pets
        • Kitchen
        • Fitness
        • I'm Looking For
        COUPONS
        • Adidas Promo Codes
        • DoorDash Promo Codes
        • H&M Coupons
        • Hotwire Promo Codes
        • Wine.com Discounts
        • Vitacost Coupons
        • Spanx Promo Codes
        • StubHub Promo Codes
        BEST PICKS
        • Best VPNs
        • Best Gaming PCs
        • Best Air Fryers
        Products
        NewslettersPodcastsCrosswordsSubscription
        FOLLOW US
        GOT A TIP?

        SEARCH

        HOMEPAGE

        Will Iran Prompt Cold War II?

        Obama and Medvedev worked out a nice little nuclear treaty but figuring out how to manage Russia’s relationship with Iran, says Erin Arvedlund, will be a lot more complicated than hitting a reset button.

        Erin Arvedlund

        Updated Jul. 14, 2017 2:02PM ET / Published Jul. 07, 2009 10:36AM ET 

        Anatoly Maltsev / Getty Images

        Obamania it ain’t. The Russians don’t love Barack Obama, and they don’t hate him. They just don’t care.

        Obama is merely a new face and new voice among Russians, but they are barely listening. Russia’s state-run pollster VTsIOM released figures earlier this week saying 16 percent of Russians don’t even know who Obama is. That’s on top of the fact that not one of Obama’s speeches was televised on the Russian’s major television channels, which are state-owned and no high-ranking officials greeted Obama when Air Force One touched down in unseasonably cold, rainy weather in Moscow.

        Click Image To View Our Gallery

        But their indifference and the past few years of blustery relations between Russia and the U.S. matter little to the one major issue emerging: how Russia will manage its decades-long relationship with Iran to the satisfaction of the U.S.

        Russia has deep ties to Iran—even helping to build nuclear-power plants in that country with Russian-made equipment. And that longstanding relationship with Iran is the chief hurdle to American efforts to thwart Tehran's nuclear-weapons capabilities.

        Although the White House believes tough sanctions by Moscow would play a decisive role, Russia has balked. At Monday's news conference by the U.S. and Russian presidents, Obama cited the threat of Iranian nuclear weapons, but according to the Los Angeles Times, President Dmitry Medvedev remained silent, refraining from even mentioning Iran by name.

        On most of the key issues, the two sides could only agree to keep talking.

        Despite Obama's veiled criticism of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who Obama accused of having "one foot in the old ways of doing business and one in the new," Obama was impressed by Putin, who is considered the real power behind the Kremlin.

        Russia has deep ties to Iran—even helping to build nuclear-power plants in that country with Russian-made equipment. And that longstanding relationship with Iran is the chief hurdle to American efforts to thwart Tehran's nuclear-weapons capabilities.

        "I would say he's very convinced that the prime minister is a man of today and he's got his eyes firmly on the future," the Associated Press quoted an unnamed senior U.S. administration official as saying.

        In an interview with Novaya Gazeta, one of the few independent papers in Russia, Obama addressed whether he would sign a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treatry if Russia conditions its agreement upon nondeployment of the U.S. missile-defense system in Central Europe. That’s another potential chip in the great bargaining over Iran, too.

        “Given the threats around the world, especially those growing from North Korea and Iran, our goal is to enhance missile defense for the United States and our allies in Europe and elsewhere,” Obama said. “When discussing our plans for Europe, we first and foremost are seeking to build a missile-defense system that protects the United States and Europe from an Iranian ballistic missile armed with a nuclear warhead. We are not building and will not build a system that is aimed to respond to an attack from Russia. Such thinking is simply a legacy of the Cold War.”

        Not being on the same page about Iran may hold the potential to lead to another.

        Erin Arvedlund is a financial writer working on a book about the rise and fall of Bernard Madoff, Too Good to Be True (Penguin). She has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron's magazine and TheStreet.com. She worked at The Moscow Times.

        READ THIS LIST

        DAILY BEAST
        • Cheat Sheet
        • Politics
        • Crime
        • Entertainment
        • Media
        • World
        • Innovation
        • U.S. News
        • Scouted
        • Travel
        • Subscription
        • Crossword
        • Newsletters
        • Podcasts
        • About
        • Contact
        • Tips
        • Jobs
        • Advertise
        • Help
        • Privacy
        • Code of Ethics & Standards
        • Diversity
        • Terms & Conditions
        • Copyright & Trademark
        • Sitemap
        • Coupons:
        • Coupons:
        • Vistaprint Coupons
        • Samsung Promo Coupons
        • Home Depot Coupons
        • Office Depot Coupons
        • eBay Coupons
        • Ashley Furniture Promo Codes
        © 2022 The Daily Beast Company LLC