FT: US to suspend "civil nuclear co-operation agreement " with Russia.

[bushmeister0]

"The Bush administration is set to put a high-profile nuclear deal with Russia on hold, according to US diplomats.

Officials expect Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, to recommend that George W. Bush, president, recall the civil nuclear co-operation agreement from Congress in the wake of Russia's conflict with Georgia.

'At this point, it's dead,' a congressional staffer said."

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b120501e-723c-11dd-a44a-0000779fd18c.html

NTI descibes the agreement:

Speaking at a press conference during the G8 summit in St. Petersburg on July 15, 2006, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush announced their two countries would shortly open negotiations on a formal agreement permitting cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The announcement reflected the reversal of long-standing U.S. opposition to concluding such an agreement with Russia, a new stance that was adopted earlier in 2006 and was highlighted in a White House statement on July 7, 2006.

If concluded, the agreement would allow cooperation on a wide range of issues, including the development of advanced reactor technologies, production of mixed-oxide (MOX, a mix of plutonium and uranium oxides) fuel, and storage and possible reprocessing of U.S.-origin spent nuclear fuel in Russia. The Bush administration also hopes the agreement will advance the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, a U.S. initiative announced in February 2006 to promote the use of nuclear energy as a clean alternative to fossil fuels, while limiting the spread of certain types of nuclear facilities that pose significant proliferation risks."

http://www.nti.org/e_research/e3_78.html

So much for Russia helping out with Iran.

[MadHound]

1. I don't think that Bushco wanted help with Iran

I wonder which war it's Bushco's going to start before he leaves, the one with Iran or the one with Russia. Hopefully he'll just be limited to trying to restart the Cold War, which can be reversed come an Obama administration. Just like us, the rest of the world is waiting for the chimp to leave the stage.

[bushmeister0]

2. "I don't think that Bushco wanted help with Iran."

Oh, of course not! But poisoning the well with Russia now will greatly limit Obama's options if he wins, which will make it much harder to reverse the damamge done.

[MadHound]

3. I honestly don't think that bush will have poisoned the well that badly

The rest of the world is pulling for Obama, and they will be willing to give him a chance to correct the foreign policy mistakes of Bushboy. Let's just hope that he takes advantage of it, and quickly.

[bushmeister0]

4. I'm sure parts of the rest of the world would like to see us

correct our foreign policy disaters, but Putin, for one, isn't going to be exactly wow'd by Obama's charisma.

Puitn isn't exactly the most enlightened guy, you might say:

The Sun June 14 2005:

"(Putin) lashed out at the (African) continent’s past after being challenged about his human rights’ record.

In an astonishing outburst, Mr Putin said: 'We all know that African countries used to have a tradition of eating their own adversaries. We don’t have such a tradition or process or culture and I believe the comparison between Africa and Russia is not quite just.'"

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article108581.ece

See? The Russian well is already poisoned (read the news today) and Obama isn't going to have a lot of luck with an ingnorant thug like Puitn.