Moscow

As Josh Rogin reports, almost half the members of the United States Senate joined together to write a letter to Barack Obama, urging the president to give up on Iranian talks if they fail yet again. The letter comes as American diplomats are getting set to meet with the Iranians in Moscow.

On May 20, Tomislav Nikolic was elected president of Serbia in a second-round runoff against incumbent Boris Tadic. Tadic, who sought a third term, and his Democratic party, have been described as victims of Serbian populist opposition to European Union financial austerity. Nikolic, candidate of the Serbian Progressive Party (SPS), calls for Serbia to join the EU but favors economic coordination with Russia instead of Western Europe. Tadic now seeks the prime minister’s post.

In March 2010, I wrote a piece for THE WEEKLY STANDARD about some incidents in which the Moscow police had shown that ordinary citizens’ lives did not count for much in Putin’s Russia.

The other day, on a rainy night in Tbilisi, Georgian opposition leader Nino Burjanadze’s motorcade ran over a cop and sped away:

The Foreign Policy Initiative has organized a group letter to President Obama on Russia and human rights, focusing on the recent arrest of Russian activist Boris Nemtsov.

The headline of Peter Baker’s piece in Thursday’s New York Times pretty much says it all: “Despite Arrests, Working to Rebuild Russia Ties.”

The arrests this week of ten Russian spies in the United States (another was picked up in Cyprus, released on bond, and has been missing ever since) have provoked an outpouring of news stories and commentary, not only here but abroad.

Some aspects of life in Moscow have sadly not changed for the better since the fall of the Soviet Union. A telling example: Persons in positions of power or authority reserve the right to ignore (to everyone else’s peril) all traffic laws. And the corruption and incompetence of the traffic police poses an even greater danger to motorists than those drivers for whom the laws do not apply.

So, let’s get this straight: On a visit to Israel by Vice President Biden, a lower-level, Israeli government agency announces its intent to build more housing units in East Jerusalem and the Obama administration goes nuclear, condemning the announcement as though it was a violation of some sacred agreement between the two countries—which of course it wasn’t.  The Israeli government, in turn, apologizes for the timing of the announcement but is told that this will not be enough. Israel now must, according to the administration, “prove” it wants peace.

Most people couldn't find the nation of Transnistria (or Trans-Dniester) on a map, and most maps show it as part of the tiny former Soviet nation of Moldova. However, Transnistria is a very real place run by a very real government -- it merely lacks any international diplomatic recognition. The Russian-speaking region separated from Moldova in the Transnistrian War of the early 1990s, and it has been relatively quiet since. However, after developments this week, we may all soon know a little more about Transnistria.

Word on the wires is that U.S.-Russian negotiators have reached an agreement in principle on a drastic reduction to nuclear forces. The cuts, part of the new START agreement, are projected to sharply cut nuclear delivery systems like subs, bombers, and ICBMs, as well as nuclear inventories. It will not address Moscow's massive inventory of tactical nuclear weapons.