Morning Joe: Obama in Moscow

Stories we're following today:

In Moscow, Obama to Focus on Arms Control - Washington Post [link]

• President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will try to break a deadlock in talks to replace a vital nuclear-arms-control treaty when they meet here Monday, with U.S. missile defense plans and Russian demands for sharper cuts in launchers presenting the key obstacles.

North Korea Moves to Restrict Economy - L.A. Times [link]

• The economic restrictions reflect the rising power of the hard-liners within the staunchly communist regime and go hand in hand with the belligerent mood that led to North Korea's May 25 nuclear test. Those jostling for power in the scramble created by the failing health of 68-year-old North Korean leader Kim Jong Il are raising the banner of juche, the term coined by his father, Kim Il Sung, the country's founder, for an ideology emphasizing self-sufficiency.

Ex-Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara Dies at 93 - New York Times [link]

• Robert S. McNamara, perhaps the most influential defense secretary of the 20th century, who helped lead the nation into the maelstrom of Vietnam and spent the rest of his life wrestling with the war’s moral consequences, died early Monday at his home in Washington.
• In retirement, Mr. McNamara argued that planning for nuclear war was futile. “Nuclear weapons serve no military purposes whatsoever,” he wrote. “They are totally useless — except only to deter one’s opponent from using them.”

Obama’s Youth Shaped His Nuclear-Free Vision - New York Times [link]

• At critical junctures of Mr. Obama’s career, the subject of nuclear disarmament has kept reappearing. Now both he and his agenda face the ultimate test: limiting nuclear arms at the very moment many experts fear the beginning of a second nuclear age and a rush of new weapons states — especially if Iran proves capable of making atomic warheads.

After the “Reset”: A Strategy and New Agenda for U.S. Russia Policy - Center for American Progress [link]

• The Obama administration now must move beyond the reset and adopt a comprehensive strategy for its Russia policy. The following six long-term goals constitute a strategic approach that can guide day-to-day decisions and help prevent the relationship from returning to its late-2008 nadir:

A View from the Dark Side

Defense For a Real Threat - Trey Obering and Eric Endelman [link]

• The apparent reelection of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his frequently expressed commitment to pursue nuclear and ballistic missile capability, underscore the importance of proposed U.S. radar sites and missile defense interceptors in Eastern Europe. Critics of the plan frequently recycle the arguments repeatedly invoked by Russian diplomatic and defense officials during rounds of U.S.-Russian diplomacy throughout 2007-08, including two meetings between their foreign and defense ministers.
  That thinking goes: There is no near-term, long-range Iranian missile threat; the proposed U.S. system could not defeat such a threat anyway, but placing that system in Europe will threaten Russia's nuclear deterrent.
  These tired arguments are not persuasive.
• Notes:
  • Read for yourself the East-West Institute's Joint Threat Assessment that was mentioned in the article.
  • For prescription of science, here is a letter from a group of prominent scientists urging President Obama not to deploy the missile defense system in Europe until it is proven operationally effective under realistic operating conditions. [link]

Obama and Putin's Russia - Wall Street Journal Ed. [link]

• Any U.S. administration will have plenty of business to carry out with Russia. But an American President in Moscow needs to keep his eyes on the bigger prize in Russia and the region. And that prize is an expansion of freedom, not a new START treaty.