Russia, Iran and Uncle Sam
As if Obama didn’t have enough to worry about, Russia is finalizing the sale of top-of-the-line air defense systems to Iran. This will be one more issue that will be thrown into the U.S.-Russia negotiations mix, on top of missile defense, the Ukraine, Georgia, etc. Russia may/may not have any intention of actually going ahead with this, but Iran undoubtedly can’t wait to get its hands on the S-300s ground-to-air missiles that comprise the core of the hardware.
Meanwhile, I suspect that once we get past Inauguration Day, we’re going to learn a lot more about the Bush administration’s attempt to embroil the U.S. in a conflict with Tehran; Seymour Hersh has already written about brainstorming meetings in Cheney’s office dedicated to coming up with a casus belli, and additional revelations are almost certainly in store. The irony is that they’ll be surfacing even as Obama faces growing pressure to launch strikes, particularly if the situation in Iraq deteriorates. (Which it almost certainly will.)
