Covert Grand Bargaining

America and Russia have both pooh-poohed talk of a "quid pro quo" deal to halt the missile defence project in Europe in exchange for Russian support for sanctions on Iran. If cooperation on neither of these matters is not forthcoming, it suggests that we are in for a period of renewed tensions between the old Cold War foes. But thankfully that isn't the sense emerging from Washington or Moscow at the moment at all.

Russian President Dimitri Medvedev is against a simple deal, but has not ruled out a broader set of agreements. His stated position is that “if we are talking about some sort of trade or exchange, then I can say that the question cannot be put that way – it’s not productive.” Which of course implies that if the question was phrased differently, it may well get positive response - one hopes that American diplomacy can manage a formulation a little more subtle. Indeed it already has, in the month-old letter from the incoming American administration which sparked the latest rebutals: “to the extent that we are lessening Iran’s commitment to nuclear weapons, then that reduces the pressure for or the need for a missile defence system”, is how the outline was described by American President Barack Obama. Strengthened sanctions for shelved shields is still a senario still firmly on the negotiating table. If this comes as part of a more complex set of understandings between the Russian and American governments then this would probably be a good thing.