President Bush has again displayed the nuance and diplomatic skills of a chainsaw. His flippant approach to Russian concerns about the deployment of an American anti-ballistic missile system in former East Bloc countries only serves to make it even more difficult to work with the Russians in the future. To underscore that, Russia has just frozen cooperation with NATO on the Conventional Forces in Europe arms control treaty and has threated to re-aim some missiles at Europe.

Russia is starting to re-assert itself on the world stage. It is displaying a longing for the level of stature and respect that it once had. The one thing that they always had to be proud of and knew commanded international respect is their nuclear ballistic missile arsenal. President Bush dismissive approach toward that pride can only backfire on America’s ability to negotiate with them. Russia has been somewhat insecure since the fall of the of the Soviet empire and the President’s backhanded diplomacy doesn’t help.

I agree with President Bush’s position of deploying a limited missile defense network in Europe, but it doesn’t have to be in Poland and the Czech Republic. Those locations were likely chosen more for political reasons than technical ones. Looking through the perspective of the insecure short-man syndrome that Russia is demonstrating, they claim that it is aimed at them despite the fact that even they admitted it could be overwhelmed with the sheer volume of ballistic missiles at their disposal.

Iran is the nation of most immediate concern to the U.S. and already have nuclear-capable missiles that can reach Israel and possibly far into Europe. Those same missiles also reach far into Russia. Given the recent boost in cooperation between Iran and a nuclear North Korea, a nuclear-tipped Iranian missile is a very real worry for both nations.

Diplomacy with a supposed ally such as Russia should not be handled in such a clumsy fashion. President Bush’s dismissive comment that “Russia is not a threat” could easily be construed by the Kremlin as a sign of disrespect to them and the potential threat they are. Not being taken seriously as a potentially powerful threat, even if it is between friends, can easily be seen as a public humiliation- especially to a nation insecure about its’ place in the world

It is clear that President Bush was unable to assuage Putin’s concerns during their recent meeting in Maine. Diplomacy is a game of patience and nuance, attributes neither Bush nor his administration has clearly demonstrated before. Russia is a proud and still powerful nation. If President Bush fails to grasp that a face-saving overture is needed help Russia agree to things they don’t like, then all he has done is needlessly stoke the flames of Russian nationalism and militarism when they could’ve been made a partner in missile defense instead. We already have enough missile worries in the world without having to add Russia to the list.