Obama seeks new start in sagging U.S.-Russia relationship

Monday 06th July, 05:31 AM JST

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yokomoc at 02:02 PM JST - 6th July

Let's see, Ronnie my special wingnut calculator sees Obama, Russians & nuclear weapons. Correct response should be "Obama puts snuggling up to socialist commie buddies ahead of protecting Americans"

Where's teleprompter?
Altria at 02:09 PM JST - 6th July

"Socialist", "liberal ", "progressive" Obama palin' around with KGB comrade Putin.

You don't mess with Putin. Barack's gonna get eaten alive!
goodDonkey at 02:56 PM JST - 6th July

realist said:

Is Obama in Moscow to apologise [apologize] and crawl to the Russians now as well?

If you want to say Reagan went to Gorbachev to apologise [apologize] and crawl to the Russians as well, but however you characterize Obama you will also have to characterize Reagan in the same way. I know all this must be very confusing for someone who believes the earth is 6000 years old.
goodDonkey at 03:03 PM JST - 6th July

Altria said:

You don't mess with Putin. Barack's gonna get eaten alive!

You are confusing what reality will bring with your own wishes. Isn't this about the Thousandth time you wished Obama would "get eaten alive" since he announced he was running for president? Yet here he is stronger than ever nearly without a scratch. Obama has more power than anyone else in the world and he knows how to use it. Just make sure you don't find yourself hopping up on his plate. You would be but a passing morsel then.
SushiSake3 at 03:15 PM JST - 6th July

Why are conservatives so incredibly insecure?
cleo at 04:08 PM JST - 6th July

Is Obama in Moscow to apologise [apologize]

Why the need to 'correct' perfectly good spelling?
skipthesong at 05:10 PM JST - 6th July

You don't mess with Putin. Barack's gonna get eaten alive!" I bet in a real fight, Obama would knock the ..... out of him. The only thing that scares my about Putin is amount of Russian mobsters in New York and New Jersey now. they seem to be quite a brutal bunch.
goodDonkey at 09:18 PM JST - 6th July

As far as a fight goes Putin has definitely been well trained and could kick my ass as well as the majority of people who would be dumb enough to mess with him.

Besides Obama is the intellectual; and that is just how we like him. I highly doubt there will be any brawls but there will probably be some sparring of the minds.

Anyway isn't this suppose to be about better relations?

Personally I hope they make some progress on reducing nuclear arms. The U.S. and Russia (Soviet Union at the time) made immense progress in the past. I am looking toward a brighter future.
Sarge at 12:08 AM JST - 7th July

I think Obama and Putin should have an abs contest.
smithinjapan at 01:47 AM JST - 7th July

There is no doubt in anyone's mind that bush finishing as president was a step up in the opportunity for good relations with other nations. That is a welcome thing. Let's hope they can succeed in that... how long was the relationship in the toilet for? oh yeah, nearly all of the bush presidency. Good luck, Obama! As two men of intellect, instead of Putin being smart and talking to a chimp, I think he and Obama have a lot of potential to make things better for both nations.
TheQuestion at 01:58 AM JST - 7th July

I highly doubt there will be any brawls

I don't know about that, ever watched Russian parliment? Zhirinovsky comes to mind as one of the more entertaining combatants.

Anyway isn't this suppose to be about better relations?

Why would either group want anything as destabilizing as that? What would either group do withough the threat of having the evil Russian/Americans glaring angrily over the fence of eastern europe? Nothing would get done.
amerijap at 02:16 AM JST - 7th July

This is gonna be an acid test for Obama to prove how he can push hard on the former Communist regime on one side and how he can maintain a congenial relationship on the other. Russia has two main channels: Dmitry Medvedey (the President) and Vladimir Putin (former President and an incumbent Prime Minister).
goodDonkey at 05:52 AM JST - 7th July

Too bad the Anti-Obama comment was removed. It would have been the perfect backdrop to say meanwhile Obama was busy accomplishing real work. In the Fox article the subtext under the headline said:

A deal between the United States and Russia to increase assistance and training in Afghanistan is being hailed as a full turn-around for two nations that had once been on opposite sides during a different Afghan war.

But their were no details on the training aspect.

Also on Monday, Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mullen and Russian Chief of the General Staff General Makarov signed a new strategic framework for military-to-military engagement between the United States and Russia. Bilateral activities have been suspended since August 2008. The new framework will set conditions to conduct nearly 20 exchanges and operational events before the end of the year. - CBS

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/07/06/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5136935.shtml

McFaul,a senior adviser on Russia, highlighted the Russians allowing 4,500 flights of American soldiers and equipment going through Russia, a country he admitted, used to be an adversary. "We're talking about 4,500 flights of American soldiers and equipment going through what used to be our enemy. And they're paying for it. This is something that's very concrete. This is a real war we're fighting." - Fox

The United States' rough calculation is that the flights will save around $133 millions in navigation fees, a cost the Russians will now pick up.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/06/russia-cooperation-afghanistan-shows-degree-turn/

I was thinking news of cooperation on drug was just the usual rhetoric but then I began to realize that with Afghanistan so close to Russia there must be an increasing heroin problem. I could be wrong but I bet Russia has that problem and would love American assistance to try to curb the flow of either opium that has yet to be processed or possibly even pure heroin. All of this is pure speculation on my part but I'll bet I caught the gist of an increasing Russian heroin problem.
Sarge at 10:09 AM JST - 7th July

"how long was the relationship in the toilet for? oh yeah, neary all of the bush presidency"

Hey, Bush can't help it if Putin was ( and still is ) running things in Russia.
goodDonkey at 05:11 PM JST - 7th July

Sarge said:

Hey, Bush can't help it if Putin was ( and still is ) running things in Russia.

That's just it sarge, Obama can!