Russia Sure Seems to Like NATO Cooperation on Missile Defense

A later version of the Associated Press story I cited on joint NATO-Russia missile defense has this reaction from Russia’s emissary to NATO:

Since 2003, NATO and Russia have staged at least four simulated missile defense exercises. Both sides say they were successful.

“They showed (NATO’s and Russia’s) missile defense systems could be made interoperable,” [Dmitry] Rogozin told reporters Friday. “They showed this can enhance the level of security for everyone.”

There’s a talking point out there, reiterated by ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee, a respected defense intellectual, to our own Dave Weigel, that Obama got “nothing” in response to his decision to revamp European missile defense plans. Rogozin, by contrast, said that Russia will back away from plans to deploy its own missiles:

In Brussels, Rogozin, the Russian NATO envoy, said the shelving of the U.S. missile shield in Eastern Europe means Russia will now not deploy short-range Iskander missiles near Poland. “If you have no radars and missiles in the Czech Republic and Poland, we don’t need to find some response,” he said.

Imagine that. A diplomatic move that gets a bone out of the throat of a great power is immediately met with a gesture that actively contributes to the security of NATO allies. It’s almost like Huckabee, and the gaggle of braying conservative critics who find any change to the imaginary Strategic Defense Initiative to be an affront to St. Reagan, don’t actually have any idea what they’re talking about.