Steve, Russia has a dog in the hunt. For at least 150 years the Russians have wanted to control Iran. They're not going to cede Iran or Central Asia to the whims of the U.S., now or ever. This will be a low-intensity battle over many years, with occasional outbursts to remind everyone what's going on.

By the same token, the talks with Hamas gives Russia credibility where the U.S. has clearly failed to develop any. A good strategic move for Putin: it costs him almost nothing and most think it's a lost cause anyway.

Damn Russkies! Who would have ever thought that they would be taking the lead in global diplomacy. What in god's name has happened to America? Didn't America used to lead the world in diplomatic solutions? Damn Bushistas will be the death of us all.

Yes - it does seem as if Russia is using more "common sense" than the Bushitas.

Iran, however scares me to death. Europe has been saying for some time that Washington is finalizing final plans to attack Iran. This is from Der Spiegel in December: http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,392783,00.html

Yet the IAEA is saying that Iran Does NOT have any Nuclear Weapon manufacturing going on. So, is the rush to attack Iran due to the fact that the Iranians are opening their own commodity market (bourse) starting on March 20th. Trading on this market for oil and gas will be in Euro's and not Petro Dollars. The link is here:
http://spaces.msn.com/risingsons/blog/cns%211FF898EC70F0ED78%211000.entry

Russia is attempting to seize back control of its national destiny from all the various foreign carpetbaggers, criminal oligarchs, racketeers and political zealots who have preyed upon, weakened and looted it since the end of the Cold War. This is no doubt distressing to unreconstructed anti-Russian fanatics like George Soros and to his well-funded NGO minions, to the strategists that seek to poach states from the Russian sphere of influence in the name of "Democracy" and energy reserves, to the global bedfellows of the Islamist terrorists who attack the Russian periphery, and to the well-paid Western mob lawyers who defend the looters, and who will seemingly rest at nothing short of the total destruction of the Russian state. But I for one am happy to see Russia re-asserting and stabilizing itself, asserting itself diplomatically, and fighting back against the alliance of scoundrels and ideological zealots who hate the country.

Interesting Washington Post article a couple weeks ago about the administration's divisions on Russia:

"Vice President Cheney has grown increasingly skeptical of Russian President Vladimir Putin and shown interest in toughening the administration's approach. He summoned Russia scholars to his office last month to solicit input and asked national intelligence director John D. Negroponte to provide further information about Putin's trajectory, the sources said."

Article goes on to say that Rice is annoyed with Cheney, thinking they have more important things to worry about. Maybe he is losing his influence.

I find it ironic that everybody was predicting that Europe and the US would play good cop bad cop with Iran over nuclear weapons. however it now seems the west and Russia who are playing that game. People used to point to the potential of the EU's "Common Foreign And Security Policy" soft power instruments, I think Iran has shown the practical limitations of "soft power" especially when a state is dead set on an objective, and when all the member states of the EU are hesitant to fully endorse such a policy.

El Baradei, in the IISS Alistair Buchan memorial lecture identified Russia as a global player in the Uranium supply, due to its large number of unused processing facilities. You can read it here:
http://www.iiss.org/confStatement.php?confID=89

I'm not surprised that Russia is cracking down internally, the legal system isn't wholely functional (it's nearly flexing the only part that is), or that Russia has a distict international agenda from the US - after all we've been meddling in most all of the former Soviet states and we are a historical opponent.

Regarding Iran, Syria, even Iraq, I'd say that Russia's interests are actually much closer the the US position as Moscow is a favorite and convenient target of fanatical Islamists. Working with these regimes brings some advantages: for example France told Britain how to inactivate the cruise missles it sold to Argentina during the Falklands war.

Might well be that the Bushies are pushing the nuclear issue on Iran not so much because it indeed is an issue, but maybe as a sidebattle over Iraq.

Iran is steadily gaining influence there, putting at risk U.S. objectives. U.S. options against Iran are zero, they don't talk with evil, so what's left is use of force and that's it.
They cannot offer Iran anything but not to bomb them, and that's not persuasive if the consequences of bombing would be ... how about a rout in Iraq and withdrawal in defeat?

They overplayed their hand in Iraq, and now could desperately try to salvage what's left by pressuring Iran over the nuke issue. Bullying Iran over the nuke issue allowes them to keep the heat on an Iran they cannot challenge directly on Iraq, after all, it's the (cough) sovereign Iraqi gvt which likes Iran so much.

STEVE, don't allow yourself to be hoodwinked by Russia that the latter would "relieve" any "stress" from America. Russia will never forget nor forgive that it was America that pushed her off the perch of power. And she will work her revanche sotto voce and sinisterly by opposing all the primal policies of the US in the near future by taking the wind off its diplomatic sails.

Even this proposal to develop Iran's uranium in Russia had clearly this purpose in mind, as well as to show to the world that it was her diplomacy that resolved this grave issue and not US diplomacy. Hence, slighting and humiliating America by highlighting its diplomatic failure.

http://congeorgekotzabasis.blogspot.com

Shutting off Ukraine's gas supply on the very first day Russia gained chair of G8 - no such a healthy move. Especially as it reduced Europe's gas supply by 30% at the same time.

Throw in the disgusting genocide currently being committed in Chechnya (It's part of the GWOT though, so it's OK) and the usurption of GazProm, and Russia is starting to look more like organized crime writ large than any recognisable form of democracy.