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Wicked Games
// Something's Rotten Among Russia's Friends
There is nothing surprising about the revelations from the Iranian general ascribing to Russia all kinds of the very basest violations of the UN Security Council resolution. At one point or another, some statement putting Moscow in an uncomfortable position was bound to fall from the lips of the Iranian leaders. For that is the price that Moscow is going to have to pay for its toying around with problem regimes.
Russia has saved Iran from sanctions several times, and, when that was no longer possible, Moscow saw to it that the sanctions were significantly toned down. Moscow has stubbornly continued with this thankless work despite the fact that its efforts were accompanied by the risk of finally ruining its already ticklish relationship with the US. Nevertheless, Moscow took that risk counting on solid compensation, both material and political.
The material pluses from the game with Iran, which primarily took the form of payments for the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, have become a tangled mess for Russia: at the beginning of March, Tehran openly accused Moscow of failing to uphold its side of the bargain at Bushehr. And the political benefits of supporting "special relations" with Iran began to turn into losses for Moscow after Tehran did not heed its recommendations and refused to meet the reasonable demands of the IAEA halfway. The Iranians have even ignored the unprecedented harshness of a warning from an anonymous source in the Kremlin: "We are not going to play the anti-American game."
However, Iran's behavior vis a vis Russia should not surprise Moscow. That (or close to that) is how all of the problem regimes that Moscow spends no small amount of time, energy, and reputation on maintaining relations with behave. Having attracted Moscow's interest in maintaining contact, these outcasts exploit then this interest for all it's worth. They force Russia to kick their chestnuts out of the fire (shift the blame in the UN, protect them from sanctions) and then, at an appropriate moment, they either undermine Russia or simply disavow it, advantageously surrendering to some American representative.
Moscow maintained active contact with Saddam Hussein, who, at the crucial moment right before the beginning of Operation Desert Storm, refused to even listen to Moscow's recommendations. Russia flirted with Slobodan Milosevic, whom the West calls the "Balkan Butcher," and he repeatedly betrayed it by signing separate agreements with NATO and sending secret letters to Bill Clinton.
Today the Kremlin is kissing up to Comrade Kim Jong-il, to whom the label of "the last Communist supremo" has been firmly affixed, and he is openly undermining Moscow by carrying out nuclear tests and missile launches. Russia is building a unified state with Alexander Lukashenko, whom the world calls a dictator, and the batka is allowing himself rude swipes in Moscow's direction and is even threatening to take a turn towards the West.
Having begun to play with problem regimes, Moscow is risking being taken for a ride by them sooner or later. Usually it manages to see through their dishonest games. But occasionally that understanding comes too late.
Gennady Sysoyev
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 10, 2007
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