Obama wins again

Over the last few weeks, several stories of international importance have broken, and are in desperate need of synthesis. President Obama may have finally managed to get the international community on board for a meaningful sanctions regime against the Islamic Republic of Iran. It wasn’t done through cowboy shenanagins and staring contests — this president deftly maneuvered his allies and his frenemies to create the most cohesive coalition in recent political memory.

Let’s review: First, President Obama commits, out loud, to not deploying a missile defense system in Poland or the Czech Republic, locations which angered the Russian Federation because said defense system implied that the missiles it would be combating would be Russian (any arguments about “sphere of influence” should be dismissed as fantasy on the part of the Kremlin — the influx of boozy study-abroad students alone has rendered these two countries solid American allies). The commitment of missile defense systems to southern Europe rather than Eastern Europe both placated Russia and put the systems in a better position to defend American interests against Iran, and signaled as much to the Iranians.

With the Kremlin happy, the President secured a unanimous United Nations Security Council vote in favor of taking active measures to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons around the world. A week later, at the G-20 meeting in Pittsburg, President Obama, joined by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, announced that Iran had been developing uranium at a previously undisclosed site. With the Security Council commitment, he now has broad international support to pursue a sanction regime against the Islamic Republic.

Not bad for a guy who wasn’t supposed to be experienced enough for the job.

The hawkish right doesn’t let a single move by the President go without criticism. But in taking apart individual actions they miss the grand strategy. While Russia hasn’t turned out like we’d hoped in 1991, it’s a long way from its arms-racing, Dr. Strangelove past.

There is no legitimate reason to create a missile defense shield designed to defend against Cold War technology. Russia has no reason to attack us or our European assets and allies. They are too busy dealing with their own problems. While it may be argued that when it comes to Georgia and Ukraine, Russia’s problems are our problems too, I would remind said arguer that when Russia invaded disputed Georgian territory, the United States only condemned the action. Furthermore, Russia has no reason to attack Ukraine with conventional weapons when they can literally freeze them out by shutting off energy supplies. Russia and the United States may not be weaving friendship bracelets, but they aren’t likely to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles at each other, either. So defense of a system that defends us against someone from whom we no longer need defending is, in a word, indefensible.

If there is no longer any threat of missile attack from Russia, there is nothing to be gained from leaving a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. There is much to be gained by removing it. If the national security conservatives would look two moves ahead, they could see the benefits to such actions. Russia is on our side, and we have, for the moment, placed the Iranians in check. Representatives of the five permanent UN Security Council members, plus Germany, met with Iranian representatives in Geneva. If worst comes to worst at least China and Russia, by their Security Council votes, have demonstrated a willingness to participate in sanction regimes against Iran.

President Obama has demonstrated an aptitude for international diplomacy that should be pleasantly surprising to the commentariat — this is a success for America. By thinking several moves ahead, the President secured general approval for a tougher stand on Iran. Any attempt to read these events as a sell-out, cop-out or anything-else-out is a myopic misinterpretation of the events. See the whole board.

Megan Cox is a senior in the Newcomb-Tulane College, and can be reached for comment at mcox@tulane.edu.