Another short circuit in the reset button?
When The Cable reported in October that there were severe problems with the U.S.-Russian agreement to transit war supplies over Russian space to Afghanistan, the Obama administration was not happy. Sure, there were some "technical details" to be worked out, U.S. officials said, but that was par for the course and would be smoothed over ...
When The Cable reported in October that there were severe problems with the U.S.-Russian agreement to transit war supplies over Russian space to Afghanistan, the Obama administration was not happy.
When The Cable reported in October that there were severe problems with the U.S.-Russian agreement to transit war supplies over Russian space to Afghanistan, the Obama administration was not happy.
Sure, there were some "technical details" to be worked out, U.S. officials said, but that was par for the course and would be smoothed over soon. So now, half a year after the deal was signed, how many flights have gone off?
Only one, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Radio Free Europe.
To be fair, the American side disputes that figure. U.S. Ambassador to Moscow John Beyrle said, "In fact there were five, and 11 more are planned."
But that’s still somewhat short of the 4,500 flights per year that were expected when Obama and President Dmitry Medvedev made the agreement in July.
"Hard to see this as a particularly major achievement of a revived relationship," writes Politico‘s Ben Smith.
New York Times reporter Peter Baker had some good details on what the problems were and some sharp analysis as well:
The agreement to allow American troops and weapons to fly over the territory of Russia, its onetime cold war enemy, was seen as a symbolic breakthrough as much as a logistical one, and administration officials argued that it was a triumph even if no planes actually ever used the route. Still, just as some people in Moscow appear apprehensive about American forces in their airspace, some American officials are wary of putting too much faith in the Russians, who could easily close down the corridor if political tension rises again.
Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.
Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.
A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.
Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin
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