Russia’s Asia Play Mustn’t be Ignored. The U.S. risks making a serious strategic error if it neglects Russia.
As the White House and Pentagon look to the Pacific, Moscow and China are making moves of their own. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to skip both the G-8 and the NATO summits this month suggests he plans to delegate relations with the West as much as possible to his deputy, Dmitri Medvedev, while he concentrates his diplomatic efforts in the former Soviet republics of Eurasia and the emerging economic powerhouses of East Asia. Putin is a leading advocate among Russian leaders of deepening Russia’s Asian connections, and the Pentagon and the White House need to orient their Asian pivot properly to address Moscow’s new Asian orientation. With this in mind, trying to influence Russia’s relationship with China, particularly in the nuclear realm, is especially important, since Putin and other Russians see China as both an opportunity and a challenge.
In Russia, Spate of Teenage Suicides Causes Alarm. Moscow conference warns of West playing with Iran's nuclear card. IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Moscow, May 4, IRNA -- The international conference on missile shield defense in Moscow warned West of playing with a nuclear Iran card. Inaugurated by Russian officials on Thursday, the conference announced that playing with nuclear Iran and North Korea card has come to an end and Kremlin cannot tolerate to see the West playing with the old card. More than 200 experts from 50 countries have gathered in Moscow for two-day international conference on missile defense. Russians said Iran and North Korea can no longer be a pretext for West, especially US to further develop its missile defense shield in Europe to mislead world public opinions of the dangers posed by West's moves in this regard.
Because Moscow is deeply concerned about plans of the US to deploy elements of its anti-missile shield in eastern Europe since Washington gives no legally binding guarantees that the shield would not be targeting Russia.