Moscow Diplomacy

President Obama arrived in Moscow today for an important diplomatic visit with what had been a Russian administration becoming increasingly hostile toward the United States and its global interests. But that was before the age of Obama…

Obama remarked upon his arrival and first meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that the two leaders and nations must “work hard” to make “extraordinary progress” in their tense relationship.

President Barack Obama opened his first Moscow summit with confidence on Monday, predicting “extraordinary progress” out of meetings set to test his diplomatic skills on important priorities such as nuclear arsenal reductions and the fight in Afghanistan.

“The United States and Russia have more in common than they have differences,” Obama said he sat down in an ornate Kremlin room with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. “If we work hard in these next few days … we can make extraordinary progress that will benefit the people of both countries.”

With both men eager to reset damaged relations, Obama’s host launched the high-stakes summit with similar good will.

“We’ll have a full-fledged discussion of our relations between our two countries, closing some of the pages of the past and opening some of the pages of the future,” Medvedev said, through a translator. “It is my hope that it will be possible to tackle successfully” a range of problems from the economy to security and energy and the environment.

The first U.S.-Russia summit since the early part of the George W. Bush presidency presents a challenge for Obama, with Russia home to a wary public, a two-headed leadership and lingering hard feelings. What much of the world will watch are signs of Obama’s relationship with Russia’s two leaders, Medvedev and his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

There is essentially no doubt that Obama’s conservative critics will see his Russian trip as somehow another moment where he “caved” to “enemies of the U.S.” The conservative blogosphere is already buzzing with Cold War-era conspiracy theories. We trust that John McCain won’;t be too far behind in ripping Obama’s brand of Moscow diplomacy…

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