Reuters reports that Russia will allow the US to supply Afghanistan through territory that Moscow controls. It says:
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will grant President Barack Obama permission next week to ship U.S. weapons supplies across its territory, or through its airspace, en route to Afghanistan, sources on both sides told Reuters on Saturday. The transit deal will open up an important corridor for the United States as it steps up its Afghan war against Taliban insurgents by sending in more troops. Routes via Pakistan have come under attack by militants …
Medvedev has repeatedly said he is ready to widen cooperation with U.S.-led coalition and NATO forces in Afghanistan, though Moscow has ruled out sending any of its own troops to fight. Russia has already granted Washington the right to transit ‘non-lethal’ supplies, such as food, overland via Russia — and Central Asia — to Afghanistan.
The Washington Post says a US sources has confirmed the deal and calls it a “step forward in cooperation on Afghanistan, which Russia views as a key area where both the former Cold War foes can work together to mend ties.”
This represents another kind of debt, one which will have to be repaid eventually. It is inconceivable that Russia will not demand linkage for its agreement to supply the Afghan campaign elsewhere. Whether this will take the form of payback in the Honduras, Iran, in Russian policy towards Europe, in money, in shared secrets or something else is not at the moment clear. But there will be some price. What’s clear is that Barack Obama has taken out a political loan to buy something in South Asia. Like any other debt, the question must be will America get it’s money’s worth. Will Obama’s strategy in South Asia (whatever it happens to be) yield returns commensurate to the price that will have to be paid. And by the way, what is that price? Surely the the State Department has some idea. Without a clear knowledge of how much one is borrowing in exchange for what investment plan, it’s hard to say whether this is good or bad. Maybe one shouldn’t worry. Why stint on debt when there are some visions that are too big to fail.
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37 Comments
1. blert:The need to send weapons and ammo through Russia is nil. The primary need is POL which we might well buy from Putin’s company.
We would be well advised to purchase food locally. Best Foods & McDonalds have long established agri-business links to local farmers around the world. It’s high time that such expertise is brought to Kabul.
I’d rather expect that Putin is going to receive TARP money. It is plain that Russia’s banking sector needs to be recapitalized. Giving Putin a slug of cash may be linked to the end of Russian carping about the USD.
In other words Chicago meets Moscow.
Jul 4, 2009 - 2:42 pm 2. buddy larsen:Occams to the timing sez the payment will be in some technical re the nuclear weapons summit next week. Probably something harmless & simple like, USA gives 180 days warning before inspecting to see if USSR is stockpiling secret warheads again. Or maybe, USA inspectors must be pre-approved by the Kremlin, a la Hans Blix and El Baradi. Or maybe finally, openly, literally blind & deaf.
Jul 4, 2009 - 2:46 pm 3. programmer:Yep, buddy. Trust, but don’t verify. Wot a deal!
Jul 4, 2009 - 2:49 pm 4. buddy larsen:Obama admin announces, via purple-smeared mimeographed flyers tossed out a lead-plated window ground floor Cheyenne Mountain: “Russian First Strike Succeeds –World Stability Achieved!”
Jul 4, 2009 - 2:56 pm 5. Ron Hardin:It hands the Russians a card to play in withdrawing permission the future.
Jul 4, 2009 - 3:13 pm 6. buddy larsen:It tightens the noose around the necks of Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Azerbaijan.
Jul 4, 2009 - 3:23 pm 7. Cannoneer No. 4:Do We Have To Put Our Head In That Noose?
The key is not to ship anything through Soviet airspace or rail that we can’t do without. Pretty much everything that came in to the old K2 or the new Navoi or Manas was always subject to interdiction by Puti-Poot.
K2 was once the main Class I yard for OEF. All that chow came in over the Russian and Uzbek rail system and was intermodaled onto jingle trucks.
The Afghans can’t feed themselves. If we bought up all the comestibles we’d jack up prices and locals would starve to death.
Jul 4, 2009 - 3:36 pm 8. El Jefe Maximo:No. 1 is possibly onto something. What did Obama give Putin?
Jul 4, 2009 - 4:08 pm 9. Norm:#8 El Jefe Maximo: Yes I agree. Perhaps O has thrown a country or two under the bus.
Jul 4, 2009 - 4:12 pm 10. Doug:Youthful Ideals Shaped Obama Goal of Nuclear Disarmament
Jul 4, 2009 - 4:28 pm 11. Josh:President Obama is pushing for new global rules, treaties and alliances to establish a nuclear-free world, a vision he developed as a college student.
—
When I become POTUS, I will work diligently to implement all the brilliant ideas I had in college.
Vote Doug in 2012.
Well, I see it didn’t take long for the idea to surface that this isn’t a loan but an exchange, for what we don’t yet know.
Jul 4, 2009 - 4:36 pm 12. Talnik:Unless Soros and the Ruskie oligarchs are making deals behind the scenes, watch for Obama to get sucker-punched on this one, ala Carter.
Jul 4, 2009 - 4:54 pm 13. buddy larsen:On the other hand, since they know from experience Afghanistan is where “empires go to die”, maybe they’re just easing the way for us: “Of course, sir. Right this way, sir.”
On the other foot, he might be working for them .
yes, doug, our nuclear weapons are evil. Since ours –the ones we can disarm, the ones that keep the ones they have from being dropped on us, are evil, theirs must be ‘good’ –else there’d be no ‘conflict’, right? So, since theirs are ‘good’, why should we worry about them?
see, these matters can be thought through, one merely needs apply oneself.
(Talnik, if the sucker wants to be punched, is it still a sucker punch?)
Jul 4, 2009 - 4:56 pm 14. Mongoose:But there is no need to go through Russia. They must be saying that they have talked the CIS nations into allowing overflights. I this is what they mean by “Russia”, they are being more honest than thet intent to be about those “independent state”.
It is just pure PR. We will give up a great deal for this.
Bet this was planned last summer.
Remember, the Russian mob had a big hand in the financial shenanigans of last year.
What the media trumpet this as some sort of masterly diplomatic triumph, when in reality it is a betrayal, and a set piece.
Drives a man to drink.
Jul 4, 2009 - 5:08 pm 15. dannyfrommiddletown:It seems to me that the obvious payment Putin will want will be cancelling of missile defense in Eastern Europe and acquiescence to Russia strangling Georgia in such a way that no competing oil pipelines can pass through that country in competition with Russia. The pipelines have to be financed and all Russia has to do is make the investment seem sufficiently risky that no companies will be willing to put money into them, then they die.
Jul 4, 2009 - 5:32 pm 16. Walt:We all know what the price will be
Jul 4, 2009 - 5:36 pm 17. wretchard:It’s Georgia Putin wants
Obama says it will kill me
But you can have it once
We move the Braves to Illinois
And shift some other clubs
Though I am sure it will annoy
The White Sox and the Cubs
And then I want, said Putin’s smile
Ukraine and Poland too
The near abroad, just for a while
Then given back to you
But not until we’ve had a chance
To put in place our men
The guys who took us to the dance
And’ll take us there again
Done and done, Obama laughed
Done cheaply at the price
Much less than our Chicago graft
And nearly twice as nice
And what we get for what we gave
Just puts my mind at ease
A dozen cans of Burma Shave
And stacks of MREs
US Tax Dollars to fund a Russian company to bring “Green Jobs” to the world. The Washington Times. reports:
Once you start giving away candy, why stop at the border?
Jul 4, 2009 - 6:09 pm 18. buddy larsen:walt, you really are a marvel –
Jul 4, 2009 - 6:16 pm 19. Talnik:So it ain’t Soros and the oligarchs it’s Congress and the oligarchs. Silly me. Just empty the Treasury and hand it over to like-minded cronies around the planet. Then destroy what’s left of the currency and Bob’s your uncle. Or Boris. Now I’m glad I spent my money on booze and women while I had the chance.
Jul 4, 2009 - 6:41 pm 20. buddy larsen:Buddy, you have a point. Ditto on Walt as well.
here’s another that went by in a rush. Note the Pivens (of Cloward-Pivens, distinguished emeritus at City U of NY), CUNY, Americorps, Walpin, ACORN and the cold cash circle jerk$ that learning of which cost the distiuished old Inspector General his career (with a senility smear to boot). Now, only a couple weeks later, (*poof*) loooong gone from the state media. Had something one hundredth the smell involved the Bushies, the tsunami would’ve been breathtaking, would still be breaking fresh daily! Like Abu Graibe!
Libby got the tsunami –and that whole thing was just made up out of thin air! joe wilson? free as a bird –like the policeman exploder from the prez’s neighborhood.
Jul 4, 2009 - 6:45 pm 21. Doug:“walt, you really are a marvel”
Jul 4, 2009 - 7:28 pm 22. buddy larsen:—
I think he cheats.
Anything else is too humiliating.
doug/21; I think he cheats
it’s so topical that wretchard must be in on it too. and since wretchard is also so topical, God must be in on it. and come to think of it, that was my point.
Jul 4, 2009 - 8:18 pm 23. Walt:Buddy – I don’t know about being a marvel, but I do recall I was the model for that guy in the red suit and white cape who was always saying “Shazam!” Or was I Billy Batson?
Jul 4, 2009 - 10:16 pm 24. nichevo:Now, you can’t advocate or call for or threaten the assassination of the POTUS. And I would never do that, of course.
But if he were assassinated…not in a clear Hinckley-nutcase way but in a way that smelled of bigger things (e.g., the killer gets away),
would the Russians, the Chinese, the Norks, the Iranians, the Chavistas, the Soroses, the ACORNs, etc., all understand that their deals were off? Or would a President Biden, say, be expected to follow through on destroying us? Or would his martyrdom make everything ten times worse?
SRSLY it’s like Obama’s got a KICK ME sign on his back, only a couple of letters off.
Wow, I must be nuts. Can the left have ever really thought that Bush was as bad as we all (I trust) think Obama is?
I’ll understand if this has to be deleted but we all know it’s on everybody’s minds…
Jul 4, 2009 - 10:46 pm 25. Doug:Photos:
Jul 5, 2009 - 12:19 am 26. whiskey:Marines Pour into Afghanistan
You have to understand. Obama is a Muslim. He hates the US. More than Putin does.
Jul 5, 2009 - 1:00 am 27. Doug:Hell, Putin and the Chi-Coms try to lecture him on the dangers of socialism.
Jul 5, 2009 - 1:19 am 28. Cannoneer No. 4:As if he cared.
Thanks for the link to those picks, Doug.
Scroll down to US Marines Sergent Jason Crocket (R) and Sergent Matthew Mueller (L) of 1st Combat Engineer Battalion of 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade walk towards the dinning area
That moon dust is as fine as khaki flour. Gets into every bodily orifice. Even the formerly well-mannered are constantly hawking up giant loogies and picking bloody great boogers from their noses. I was told by the medics that 11% of all the dust ingested consisted of dried animal and human fecal matter. Doesn’t take much of a breeze to put all that dust into the air.
Jul 5, 2009 - 4:12 am 29. Doug:The pictures alone gave me the distinct impression that it is a less than ideal campsite.
Jul 5, 2009 - 4:56 am 30. Doug:Korea was a walk in the park in comparison.
I got to those pics via your Ingraham link, btw!
Jul 5, 2009 - 4:58 am 31. Doug:The next pic down:
Jul 5, 2009 - 5:16 am 32. Cannoneer No. 4:What is attached to the barrel of the M16 that extends up 18 inches or so?
You mean the khaki flashlight on the black gun?
Jul 5, 2009 - 6:03 am 33. Cannoneer No. 4:Russia calls on U.S. to compromise on missile defense
Jul 5, 2009 - 6:23 am 34. Boiled Cabbage:So it looks like it will finally get very hot in NWFP? The capture/death of AQ leaders would be a prelude to the exit strategy.
Jul 5, 2009 - 7:10 am 35. Rurik:I remember that in 2002, Vlad was quite happy to help facilitate America’s incursion into Afghanistan, permitting Bush to set up bases around Central Asia. At the time I suggested Russia could not lose – 1. They’d seem good friends and get credit if we triumphed; 2. American power would fall on their old Afghan Enemy, and would be payback for Soviet humiliation if the US won; 3. If the US lost, it would help redress the shame of their humiliation; 4. It would keep US power occupied, where it would not be a driect challenge to Russia. In short, Putin was glad to help America punch the tarbaby. Now he wants us to punch the tarbaby again. And it will also help ease us out of Iraq before we consolidate our influence there.
Jul 5, 2009 - 8:14 am 36. NahnCee:“Remember, the Russian mob had a big hand in the financial shenanigans of last year.”
This does not compute. If the Russians were part of the huge sell-offs that precipitated the financial melt-downs last year, then why on earth would Putin be selling favors for American dollars this year? Either the Russians are rich enough to bring down the American economy, or they are not. I would have said not.
However, if you consider that oil money might have bought Obama his Presidency, and the effect that same source of funding might have on Russia, then perhaps Obama’s sales pitch would be something like you give us access to your air space and we’ll give you laundered Saudi oil money.
Headlines also today that Saudi Arabia has OK’d an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuke program. Would Russia have had a vote in that?
Jul 5, 2009 - 12:22 pm 37. NahnCee:P.S. May be why Obama isn’t taking Hillary with him to Moscow — he doesn’t want her to find out the source of the funding that bought him his Presidency (and sank her bid).
Jul 5, 2009 - 1:07 pmSorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.