Hope ‘n Change is scheduled to sit down with Dmitri Medvedev and Vladimir Putin in Moscow on July 6-8. There are many issues on the table, chief among which is the subject of the missile shield due to be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic in the next two years. The Russians have complained about this long and loud – not because they really think the ABM system is directed at them – but because the US is intruding into the Russians’ traditional sphere of influence. They’re also concerned about increasing weapons sales to Poland and the forging of bilateral relationships with former Warsaw Pact countries.
The following video is of Stratfor CEO George Friedman discussing the upcoming visit. I agree with most of what Friedman has to say but I disagree that Russia is emerging as the foremost strategic challenger to the US. That peculiar honor belongs – I believe – to China. Russia simply doesn’t have the money – and faces too many insurmountable internal problems – to mount a serious, sustained challenge to the United States in any field of strategic competition.
But as to the rest, including spheres of influence in central Asia, our relations with the Baltic states, moves by the EU in Belarus and more, I think Friedman is spot on.
