This is great up to a point. However, it suggests that this administration is more nervous about a perceived Iranian threat than about any from Russia.
This in turn suggests that America will continue its mission to control the Middle East, and so will wish to prevent any country in that region from becoming too strong and independent - except, of course, Israel!
By the way, I love it when journalists talk about "secret" documents. If it were secret the guy wouldn't know about it, would he?

The retreatist may yet learn that his eagerness to wheedle the totalitarians will not ensure peace, but eventual war – war with unpredictable and nasty results.

I'm curious to see how Putin reacts....I'm sure he's thought this thru many moves ago.

I hope Putin has thought it out, but I'm not sure he's adjusted to Obama's thoughts yet. It seems to me that Obama is, daily, methodically dismantling Bush's foolish moves. Almost like he's using a list. Probably is. And considering he was given up by many as a clueless loser in his first two weeks, he's moving along pretty well. Six weeks or so into the term, he 's managed to cage the GOP into a Rush Box, publicly humiliating the RNC Chairman in the process and forcing the GOP far out on the fringe of US politics. Take Fox News off the air, and the GOP would likely cease to exist at this point.

Russia will agree. The US will halt the deployment in Eastern Europe. While Russia will continue to "secretly" aid Iran in building long range missles.

Hey, the Democrats have shown they can be fooled by North Korea and China. Russia was taking notes!

The Russian Bear answers Obama: You stop the ABM program in Eastern Europe, show your allies that you cannot be relied on, and we will do whatever we want with our friends in Iran.

This is going to be a sad miscalculation by Obama if he thinks he could play chess better than Putin.

Russia has said "no deal"

"The overture was rebuffed Tuesday by Medvedev, who said it was "not productive" to link talks over the US missile defense system with Iran's suspected nuclear program.

"If we are to speak about some sort of exchange, the question has not been presented in such a way, because it is not productive," Medvedev said during a trip to Spain Tuesday."

How soon we forget. The Mad King, idiot son of George the weepy and Bar the lush, broke the ABM treaty with Russia in 2001 so he could build us a missile defense net to protect us from terrorists in Eye-raq. Doesn't sound stupid at all.

About the only problem I can see is what to do with the Generals who were spending $13 billion a year on this worthless crap. They won't be able to go into industry if the program is cut, so how can they repay the money they've screwed us out of?

At least Obama is willing to try and cut a deal with Russia before abandoning this massive failure of the Buschco administration. The Russians know we're going to end it, they had the same financial problems not too long ago.

Hell, who knows. Maybe these defense industries will have to convert to building high speed trains and stuff like that?

Hey, the Democrats have shown they can be fooled by North Korea and China.

That's funny, when it was W who, weeks into his misadministration, delivered a state-of-the-art spy plane to China, who not-so-promptly returned it in Hefty bags.

It was under W's misadministration that NK walked away from the Agreed Framework, restarted its nuke plant, and detonated a test nuclear weapon.

It was W who led the world in a collective shrug when Pakistani nuclear proliferator extraordinaire (including to NK) A. Q. Khan was pardoned by Pakistani President Musharraf.

Rail as you may against Democrats, but the louder you try to pass blame, the more we'll know who is really at fault.

Russia has influence with Iran. The US does not. At least pursuing this sort of thing seems fine. Also, it had the salutary effect of raising the blood pressure of the wingnuts monitoring this blog.

So since we're going to be destitute just like Russia, we'll agree to halt the most expensive arms program in human history in return for exactle one meaningless jesture on their part.
And Russia calls our bluff. Priceless.

C'mon, Obama. You can't deal with Russia in this manner. First, you have to have a long adoring look into Putin's eyes. If you don't get moist, you are no Jorge Busch!

Nope. Without peering into Putin's soul you can never hope to engage in diplomacy with Russia. The Chimporer proved it.

wow all these new trolls crawling out of their basements with cheeto stains proves how paranoid the wingnuts are about the Great Bear...go back in your holes fellas, you were never relevant and now more than ever....and close the door on your way out....

To those who are saying Russia will secretly continue to aid Iran's arming - why is that wrong, but America's quite un-secret encouragement of Israel's arms building perfectly fine?
Oh, I forgot, America is ALWAYS on the side of the angels.

Looks like Peter Baker may have done something to make Obamachrist look stupid.

"It was under W's misadministration that NK walked away from the Agreed Framework, restarted its nuke plant, and detonated a test nuclear weapon." Funny that this walk away already began before W took office.

Also quite amusing as our President was trying this back channel, SOS Clinton's telling people that diplomacy won't work with Iran. Anyhow,"Haggling," however, was "not productive," added Medvedev on Tuesday.

Looks like Peter Baker may have done something to make Obamachrist look stupid.

Nope. Just points to how Obama is trying to overcome a Buschco fuck up.

Funny that this walk away already began before W took office.

"My Dubya ia a god!!! A gaaaaaawwwwwdddddd!" BTW: When did N Korea do its first nuke? Who let that happen? And how bout that Dubya creating this current problem in the first place by breaking a long-standing treaty with Russia?

It's time for the Oxycontin warrior to toss you two pet seals a herring.

Say...how bout those memos? Bet fascist fucktards like you love em. Seems that cocksucker Busch is getting closer to hearing a cell door slam closed. How can a son-of-a-bitch as dumb as he is become president? People like you. Ignorant bastards like you who voted for that motherfucker. I hope he's buying XL pretzels these days.

"Glenn Greenwald
Monday March 2, 2009 08:45 EST
Is Obama embracing the lawless, omnipotent executive?

(updated below - Update II)

As I detailed over the weekend, the Obama administration -- in the case brought by two American lawyers and their charity-client claiming that their conversations were illegally intercepted by the Bush administration -- has announced that it intends to try to appeal, yet again, in order to prevent the court from hearing the lawsuit. On Friday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Obama's request to stay the District Judge's Order, which had held that it will review a classified document that the plaintiffs claim proves they were subjected to the illegal eavesdropping (thus conferring standing on the plaintiffs to challenge the legality of Bush's NSA program), and also ordered the Obama administration to provide security clearances to the plaintiffs' lawyers so that they could review the document as well. The Obama DOJ immediately announced they intend to try to appeal again -- the third time, since Obama's Inauguration, that the Obama DOJ will try to argue before a court that the case should not heard at all.

In the meantime, though, the Obama DOJ is now refusing to comply with the Judge's order, actually arguing to the court that only the President can decide whether classified information can be used in a court proceeding, and that courts have no power to make such decisions. Here is the remarkable description of Obama's actions by The San Francisco Chronicle's Bob Egelko:" Salon

sound familiar???

"The brief filed by Obama on Friday afternoon (.pdf) has to be read to believed. It is literally arguing that no court has the power to order that classified documents be used in a judicial proceeding; instead, it is the President -- and the President alone -- who possesses that decision-making power under Article II, and no court order is binding on the President to the extent it purports to direct that such information be made available for use in a judicial proceeding." Marcy Wheeler over at firedoglake

Nice to see this admin confirming/validating what W and Cheney did.

Pants pissin pete working overtime to dissiminate as much bullshit and propaganda as can be spewed,,ppp Glen Greenwald is doing something you are incapable of understanding..he's THINKING pukes can't grasp the concept..he's also doing another action pukes are both too stupid to grasp and incapable of: criticzing a leader he also supports..why ypu ask? Because progressives allows thought, change and criticism of our own leaders...you lockstep neo-fascists just don't grasp concepts utilizing these principles. Crawl back under your rock maroon..

California spends far more than it takes in, despite having some of the highest taxes in the United States. It is hostile to business, and the middle class is fleeing in droves. It runs huge deficits every year, yet the Dem dominated legislature refuses to do anything effective to cut spending.

Now one in ten Californians is unemployed. Does any of this sound familiar? It should. It’s what Obama and the Democrats have in mind as a “solution” for the rest of the country.

Apparently you have amnesia pants pisshead pete..the problems we have including CA where the Gov is what? Say it louder: a puke, the result of eight years of incompetent idiots running the country..how quickly assholes forget the complete failure they have wrought on the rest of us.,in the words of the immortal head asshole dead eye dich: go fuck yourself pppete.