Obama's security reduction mission to Russia

By Richard Baehr

Barack Obama is in Russia, pushing a high priority item for him: negotiating a nuclear arms reduction deal. His logic for this pursuit appears to be that if rogue states, see the US and Russia reduce their nuclear arms, they will decide it must be a good idea not to purse a nuclear weapons program of their own.

It is hard to believe that this level of naïveté is present in the individual directing US foreign policy at least through 2013, and perhaps 2017.

Obama's long radical history on nuclear weapon goes back 25 years. While New York Times reporters were chartering jets to get to Alaska to dig up dirt on Sarah Palin, and sending a team of 4 reporters on a half year effort to smear John McCain for ties (hint , hint) with a female lobbyist,. the missed this story until now.

One nation actively pursuing such a nuclear program is Iran. Obama and other Administration officials have made clear that they have no interest in a US strike against Iran. So if they want to stop Iran, what is left? Sanctions, or some grand bargain negotiation.

Obama, having pursued a negotiating strategy (which so far has produced zero), now seems unwilling to step up sanctions, even after the recent election fraud and crackdown, since it will make negotiations more difficult (better to salute Iran's Supreme Leader a few more times, and get nothing again in return other than a humiliating slapback).

Raise your hand if you think Obama will wind up sitting down with Ahmadinejad and the mullahs and the result will be an end to Iran's nuclear ambitions. Anyone? Anyone?

Most people have speculated that the path for Israeli fighter jets to get to Iran is either over Iraq or over Turkey. Could Saudi Arabia be a third path? Hard to believe, but who knows? Israel sending subs through the Suez Canal offers a second strike option. Even Joe Biden admitted yesterday that Israel will do what it has to do (hopefully undeterred by Obama).

In any case, it appears if the reports on Saudi Arabia and Egypt are correct, that these Arab countries are far more concerned with Iran and its nuclear ambitions than with natural growth of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. And they obviously understand that the US will do nothing to stop Iran, but Israel might.