Obama got his first Test

[nuune]

Obama is being tested by Russian president.

 

I love the Russians

 

 

Medvedev to Deploy Missiles in Obama's `First Test'

 

 

Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wasted little time in laying down his first challenge to Barack Obama.

 

Hours after Obama won the U.S. presidential election, Medvedev said yesterday he'd put short-range Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, a region wedged between Poland and Lithuania, to ``neutralize'' a planned U.S. missile-defense system. A radio- jamming installation there will also be aimed at elements of the U.S. system in Poland and the Czech Republic, he said.

 

The plan highlights the hurdles Obama faces in improving frayed ties with an increasingly assertive Russia. While Obama's criticism of the war in Georgia and his support of NATO's eastward expansion are similar to those of defeated Republican rival John McCain and President George W. Bush, he has indicated flexibility on the missile shield.

 

``There's no question that this is designed as a test for the Obama administration,'' said Kimberly Marten, a professor of political science who specializes in Russian foreign policy at Columbia University's Barnard College in New York.

 

Medvedev's words don't add up to much strategically and aren't likely to affect how Obama views the U.S. missile system, she said by telephone.

 

`Posturing'

 

``It's posturing,'' she said. ``Kaliningrad is already so heavily militarized -- there are tactical nuclear weapons from the Russian side there -- so these missiles wouldn't actually have any particular major impact on the defense balance in the region.''

 

Krzysztof Bobinski, director of the Warsaw-based Unia & Polska Foundation, a political institute, said Medvedev's words mark the ``first test for Obama.''

 

``The Russians think that the new U.S. president isn't sure about the missile-defense plan, and want to try to shake his resolve,'' he said by phone.

 

U.S. allies bordering Russia reiterated the U.S. position that the missile shield isn't directed at Russia and doesn't represent a threat to their former Soviet masters.

 

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters in Warsaw that Medvedev's remarks should be treated as ``a political, not a military, declaration'' and shouldn't be taken ``too seriously.'' Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus issued a statement calling the plan ``beyond comprehension.''

 

`Warning' to Obama

 

``This is a warning to Obama -- a bright, clear warning -- that tough negotiations are ahead,'' Alexander Rahr, a Russia expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, said by telephone. Medvedev's ``fist-waving'' on the missile shield may be premature, since Obama has shown less support for the system than President George W. Bush, Rahr said.

 

Obama said he'll back the plan ``if it works and if it can be financially feasible,'' said Michael McFaul, a Russia specialist at Stanford University who advised him during the campaign, in an interview last month. Obama's campaign didn't return telephone messages seeking comment yesterday.

 

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack expressed frustration with Russia yesterday, saying the U.S. had ``gone the extra mile'' in trying to address Russian concerns on the missile-defense plan and was still open to a dialogue about it.

 

``But, you know, clearly they've made up their mind that at this point, that they don't like the idea and they're going to resist it in every possible way,'' McCormack said.

 

Some Russian officials said Medvedev ought not push Obama into a major foreign-policy test.

 

No `Inertia' Burden

 

``Russia shouldn't try to press the new U.S. president in pursuit of quick concessions,'' said Konstantin Kosachyov, who heads the International Affairs Committee in Russia's lower house of parliament. ``Obama isn't burdened by the inertia of Cold War-era thinking,'' and thus will be prepared to be flexible, he said.

 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang repeated his government's opposition to the planned U.S. missile shield.

 

``China has always believed that to establish a global missile defense system is not conducive to strategic balance and stability, or to building mutual trust between countries or regional stability,'' he said in Beijing today. ``Relevant countries should consider other countries' concerns.''

 

While announcing Russia's long-promised military response to the U.S. missile shield in a speech to lawmakers in Moscow, Medvedev also expressed hope that Obama, unlike Bush, would engage with Russia on issues of common interest.

 

``Progress in Russian-American cooperation would be of critical importance,'' Medvedev said, adding that relations are going through a difficult period.

 

`Modern Outlook'

 

Medvedev said before the election that he was prepared to work with any new leader in Washington, though he expressed a veiled preference for Obama: ``It would be easier to work with people with a modern outlook, rather than those whose eyes are turned back to the past,'' he said. He congratulated Obama on his election victory by telegram, the Kremlin said.

 

The Russian leader renewed his criticism of the U.S. for the global financial crisis, saying that U.S. failure to coordinate its economic policy with other countries allowed a ``local'' crisis to cause ``a fall on the markets of the whole planet.'' He also said the U.S. provoked the war between Russia and Georgia in August, a position he had voiced before.

 

Medvedev chose the day when global attention was focused on the U.S. to announce a number of sweeping changes in domestic policy, including the extension of the Russian president's term in office to six years from four.

 

Russian presidents are now limited to two consecutive four- year terms. Putin, as president from 2000 until May of this year, strengthened the office by centralizing power. He became Medvedev's prime minister, and will be eligible to run in the next presidential contest.

 

BRICs

 

On the global financial crisis, Medvedev said the U.S., the European Union and the so-called BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- must work together to create an economic system that will be ``more fair and more secure.'' He added that ``we must radically reform the political and economic systems. Russia, at all events, will insist on this.''

 

Medvedev travels to Washington on Nov. 15 for a summit on the financial crisis. Presidential spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said last week that no decision had been made on whether Medvedev would meet the new president during his visit.

 

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