Russian Leader: Obama Means A Fresh Start

Dmitry Medvedev Sees Opportunity "To Develop Really Good-Neighborly Relations"

(CBS/AP)  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's move to the White House is a chance for a fresh start between the two powerful, nuclear-armed nations, whose ties have deteriorated over the past decade.

"We are ready to develop really good-neighborly relations with the U.S.," Medvedev told business leaders in Cannes, France. "I'm very glad the president-elect looks at these problems ... as a priority for U.S. foreign policy."

"For us, relations with the U.S. are a foreign policy priority, too ... given the special role and mission of our two countries," Medvedev said.

"The new administration will have the chance, if not to start with a totally clean slate, then at least to look at the issues without prejudice," he said.

Last week, as congratulations poured in to Obama from around the world on his election victory, Medvedev gave a stern warning about U.S. plans to base missile defense units in Eastern Europe, saying Russia would react by basing short-range missiles in the western territory of Kaliningrad.

Medvedev and other Kremlin officials have backed off slightly since then, however. In an interview with French journalists broadcast Thursday, Medvedev again suggested that if Washington halts its plans, Moscow would do the same.

Medvedev said he had had a good telephone conversation with Obama last week and that the two men had agreed they should meet face-to-face as soon as possible.

"I hope... we'll be able to find a way out of these (difficult) situations, which we haven't been able to do with our current colleagues," he said in the televised interview.

"The new president has a big reserve of good will. He was elected during a very difficult period. I wish him success in dealing with what lies before him," he said.

Dealing with a resurgent Russia will be one of Obama's many challenges. U.S.-Russian relations have gone up and down this decade, but mostly down. The U.S. plans for the missile shield, Kremlin pressure on its domestic opponents and on its neighbors and the war in Chechnya fed the tensions.

Then the war in August between Russia and neighboring Georgia, a small but strategic U.S. ally in an oil-rich region, has only made matters worse.

Medvedev appeared eager Thursday to give Obama the benefit of the doubt, and argued against any "pauses" in U.S.-Russian communication.

"Russia isn't the old USSR and that's why the chances are large for building full partnership," Medvedev said in Cannes.

Medvedev was questioned by Russian and European business leaders in the southern French city about his similarities with Obama, with one questioner calling both men "young, attractive lawyers." Medvedev smiled and said "Thank you, from me and Obama."

Medvedev was in France chiefly for a summit with the European Union on Friday. EU-Russian relations have also been strained to near breaking point in the wake of the Georgia war, and Friday's meeting will be the first such encounter since that conflict.

After that, he heads to Washington for a summit of world leaders who plan to discuss the global economic crisis.

Medvedev said a new system of global financial regulation was needed and he said it should consider all countries' interests, not just those of the "most powerful or the biggest."

Russia has repeatedly called for a sweeping overhaul of financial institutions including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

[kellyharris5]

The Russian leaders are all scum, join us to help decent Americans understand that they are just scum of the earth. www.theseriouspolice.com

[downsteamjim]

Joe Biden says that this is the best news since Lenin spoke to Truman via satellite.

[be_real]

Any enemy of the USA is now delighted that nitwit American voters have placed Barak Hussein Obama, that highly experienced foreign policy expert, in charge of the Oval Office. Any time your enemy applauds your actions you know you have made a really big mistake. With the election of Barak Hussein Obama the USA made that really big mistake.

Posted by AmJoe at 07:25 AM : Nov 15, 2008


LOL.. Ignorant

[ffoulkes-2009]

WHAT DO YOU SEE IN MEDVEDEV''''S (PUTIN''''S) EYES NOW PRESIDENT BUSH?

Posted by KristianInAL at 08:53 AM : Nov 15, 2008
_______________________
Wanna know what I see in his eyes? Fear.

Putin fears his nation becoming a third-world hole like it has been headed toward. He wants power and prestige, however he is going about it all wrong. He is just going to have the world turn their backs to him and his nation thus closing them off with another iron curtain.

[mtminds]

America doesn''t have to worry about Russia. Sarah Palin is watching Russia from her family room window.

[ffoulkes-2009]

Remember those two thugs that robbed the bank in California and shot up the police that tried to stop them? What made them capable of laying down 1000s of rounds in a quiet suburb? Body armor.

The principle that (insanely) has kept the world from total destruction has been Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). There have been new voices in the DoD speaking of the winnable nuclear war and NMD is a keystone in the (il)logic of it.

All in all, a missile is a poor delivery system for a single nuclear weapon and is unlikely to be the method of choice for a rogue action.

Now, drink all your Kool-Aid and say good night.

Posted by Evian_Ycnan at 04:08 AM : Nov 15, 2008
_____________________________________________
So we leave our ally (one of the cops in this scenario) without the body armor? (Poland ya know.)

[evian_ycnan]

BIG difference between defensive anti-missile missiles and those capable of carrying thermonuclear warheads. The ones we are putting in Poland are incapable of carrying that type of warhead and would be very ineffective as a ground to ground missile system.

Posted by ffoulkes at 03:08 AM : Nov 15, 2008

Remember those two thugs that robbed the bank in California and shot up the police that tried to stop them? What made them capable of laying down 1000s of rounds in a quiet suburb? Body armor.

The principle that (insanely) has kept the world from total destruction has been Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). There have been new voices in the DoD speaking of the winnable nuclear war and NMD is a keystone in the (il)logic of it.

All in all, a missile is a poor delivery system for a single nuclear weapon and is unlikely to be the method of choice for a rogue action.

Now, drink all your Kool-Aid and say good night.

[evian_ycnan]

"The wise are filled with indecision, while the stupid are ***-sure"--Bertrand Russell.

That fits Bushit to a T.

Posted by johnbrown888 at 06:33 PM : Nov 14, 2008

Dead certain and dead wrong.

[ffoulkes-2009]

Why not? We have missiles in Poland...

Posted by jh6379again at 09:38 AM : Nov 14, 2008
_______________________________________________
BIG difference between defensive anti-missile missiles and those capable of carrying thermonuclear warheads. The ones we are putting in Poland are incapable of carrying that type of warhead and would be very ineffective as a ground to ground missile system.

[wardoglrs]

Dmitry Medvedev will See that Obama means to do nothing
and then they will know that there wasting there time with another Neo Con Low Life

[valentin73]

Whenever one reads anything about Dimitri Medvedev, we must stop and listen to big brother breathing down his neck: Vladimir Putin. Do not mistake DM for anything he says. Remember; he is the puppet and Putin (the modern - day Czar) is the puppet master......

[andylance1]

There is no doubt that Russia is our enemy. Medvedev is a puppet of that KGB thug Putin. They are re-establishing close ties with Cuba and are arming Chavez and his radical friends in South America.

Russia brutally invaded Georgia earlier this year and wants to take back all of eastern Europe. Putin threatened to hang Georgia''s president Saakashvili "by the balls". Putin made his ''balls'' remarks to France''s president Nicolas Sarkozy - who is turning out to be a French Quizling in disguise.

[guadalcanal3]

I am all for..better relations with the Russians...Russia might be our rival...but they are NOT our enemy.

[benobana]

OBAMA is FRESH MEAT for the RUSSIANS!!

[yongamerica]

Russia isn''t the old USSR and that''s why the chances are large for building full partnership.

- As long as Putin is the Prime Minister for life of Russia, the country will operate very much like the Soviet Union did. The only exception is will work with the global market because the Soviet market strategies failed.

Putin, Chavez, Ali Khamenei (Supreme Leader of Iran), Kim Jong Il, Wen Jiabao (Premier of China) all have one thing in common: They are all Despots. Kept in power by ruthless intimidation and murder of their political opponents and by terrorizing their own people with national police forces similar to the Nazi''s Gestapo.

[skeetchamp]

Medvedev can''t be trusted. He''s erratic like McCain, saying one thing one day then the opposite the next. Maybe it''s time for a "regime change" in Moscow.

[enlightenu]

The truth of the fact is,this began in the 50''''s when MLK spent a lot of time in Russia being trained on how to destroy the American system without a shot being fired(read your history((Russian president said America would fall).Consider Russia and China are building military bases in South America and Cuba,now they have their man as Americam president. I sense a sell out in the making,The movie Red Dawn may not be so far off in our future,it took Russia a while but they used our system and turned it on America. THE FUTURE OF AMERICA DON"T LOOK GOOD. With the people in government now I am sure our leaders would give up without a fight,RUSSIA AND CHINA ARE BETTING ON IT.

Posted by chad55555 at 07:35 AM : Nov 14, 2008

GO WOLVERINES!!!!

Why is there so much fear about America being invaded and attacked? We have only been attacked twice (Pearl Harbor and 9-11) in the last century and never invaded. Go try living in more vulnerable countries more prone to attack like 99% of the rest of the world.

[presjfk]

"Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama''s move to the White House is a chance for a fresh start between the two powerful, nuclear-armed nations, whose ties have deteriorated over the past decade."

Too bad there won''t be a similar fresh start for Russia.

[standlee5]

KGB meets Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

[yongamerica]

Dmitry Medvedev holds the same position as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Both are talking heads for the real persons in power. Too bad Medvedev couldn''t be viewed as a Fresh Start. Since he is Putin''s talking head, nothing he says can be trusted.

Putin is so much more worse for Russia than president Bush is for America. Too bad Putin, the autocrat, can''t be removed from power except by force. As long as he is in power the world should not turn its back on this paranoid and murderous man and his Russian spy and military machines.