Obama’s Russia challenge
Is Medvedev giving Obama his first foreign crisis?
“Perhaps not even Joe Biden expected to be so right so soon,” said The Economist online. Mere hours after his election, Barack Obama got his first foreign test, when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev “decided against the traditional congratulatory phone call” and instead announced that he will “stick a few missile regiments” near Poland, in Kaliningrad, to counter perceived threats from a U.S. missile-defense shield.
It isn’t surprising that Medvedev “and his master, Vladimir Putin, would be the first to try intimidating the president-elect,” said The Washington Post in an editorial, but this test isn’t a particularly tough one. Putin wants to “bluff” Obama into abandoning the missile shield, to show Russian might against a “weakening America,” and Obama should just ignore his “crude threat.”
Medvedev actually seemed to be talking more to the outgoing administration, said Irina Filatova in Britain’s The Guardian, but it was a tone-deaf way to welcome the new one. By painting the U.S. as the world’s “main baddy,” he is taking anti-Americanism too far for Russia’s own good. U.S.-Russian relations need to thaw, but it’s not all up to Obama.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“Unless there is a new effort by Moscow, the ball is now in Obama’s court,” said Yuri Mamchur in Russia Blog. But the truth is that, with their financial meltdowns, “neither of the two countries needs (or can afford) a new missile system in Europe.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Nuclear near-misses
The Explainer From technical glitches to fateful split-second decisions, the world has come to the brink of nuclear war more times than you might think
By Rebecca Messina, The Week UK Published
-
What is cloud seeding and did it cause Dubai's severe rainfall?
The Explainer The future is flooded
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
American Airlines pilots are warning of a 'significant spike' in safety issues
In the Spotlight The pilot's union listed 'problematic trends' they say are affecting the airline's fleet
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published