Ext – Romney Promotes Aggressive MD

Romney has hardline, uncooperative approach to missile defense – it fails

Mitt Romney is still harping on the 2009 missile defense decision: I think it was an enormous mistake to give them that and what he got in return shows the extraordinary naiveté of a Presidency that does not understand the power of resolve and strength. Let’s try a thought experiment. Suppose that Obama hadn’t cancelled the Bush-era missile defense plan, but had gone ahead with it as planned. This presumably would have proven American “resolve and strength” and put the Russians on notice that (horrible) Bush-era Russia policy was going to continue. Apparently, resolve and strength are proven by wasting money on something that doesn’t reliably work to maintain the fiction that the U.S. is being protected against an Iranian long-range missile threat that doesn’t exist, but never mind that. In fact, the very limited concession on the Bush-era missile defense plan was an essential gesture of goodwill that convinced Moscow that Obama was serious in trying to develop a more constructive relationship with Russia. If Romney had his way, that gesture would never have happened. What would U.S.-Russian relations be like today if those missile defense installations were being built over the last few years? We can’t know for certain, but everything we know about Russian reactions to U.S. missile defense proposals tells us that relations with Russia would be much worse. Relations between Russia and the host countries, Poland and the Czech Republic, would also be significantly worse than they are. Russian support for U.N. sanctions on Iran might not have been forthcoming, and there is no chance that Russia would be paying any attention to Washington’s pleas for cooperation in Syria. All of the Russian behavior that Romney and other critics find unsatisfactory or unacceptable would still be happening, and on top of it Russia would be less inclined to cooperate with the U.S. on those issues where there are common interests. Romney seems to assume that demonstrating “resolve and strength” impresses foreign governments and causes them to forget that they disagree with the U.S. on certain issues. Awed by our “resolve and strength,” they will hasten to be more cooperative. That’s the fantasy that Romney is indulging here. The reality is that foreign governments often perceive “resolve and strength” as insulting condescension and arrogance on our part, which makes them more defensive and suspicious of U.S. motives. After 2003, Bush repeatedly showed what his supporters considered to be “resolve and strength” in eastern Europe and post-Soviet space, and it was perceived with good reason as a U.S. effort to undermine and roll back Russian influence. That inevitably increased tensions between the U.S. and Russia that finally exploded in 2008.

Romney has hardline aggressive approach to Russian relations – no cooperation

Mataconis 12 (Doug Mataconis, Senior Editor for OTB, holds a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law, 6.19.12, Outside the Beltway, “Romney Continues To Attack Russia,” http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/romney-continues-to-attack-russia/)

Mitt Romney made headlines back in March when he referred to Russia as “our number one geopolitical foe,” a comment that was immediately criticized by Russian leaders and many members of the foreign policy establishment. Additionally, as The New York Times noted in an article last month, Romney’s remarks and his continued hard-line position toward Russia have been the subject of controversy within Republican foreign policy circles, with even some of Romney’s own advisers quite obviously disagreeing with their boss on the matter. Any chance those advisers might have influenced Romney to tone down his rhetoric, though, seems to have gone out the window now that Romney has essentially doubled down on his previous comments: Showing no sign of backing down on his hawkish stance on Russia, Mitt Romney said in a radio interview broadcast on Tuesday that the country is continuing “to pursue a course which is antithetical” to that of the United States. In the interview with Fox Radio, Romney repeated his earlier characterization of Russia as “geopolitical foe” – a position that has raised questions among Democrats and even some Republicansabout whether he remains stuck in a Cold War mindset. He sought to put the notion to rest, but did not deviate from his earlier controversial assertions. “The nation which consistently opposes our actions at the United Nations has been Russia,” Romney said. “We’re of course not enemies. We’re not fighting each other. There’s no Cold War, but Russia is a geopolitical foe in that regard.” Romney’s remarks came as President Obama has been meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin at Mexico’s G-20 summit to try to seek common ground over how to deal with Syria, one of Russia’s allies. Romney blasted Obama for what he called an ill-advised concession on withdrawing missile-defense sites from Eastern Europe, which he called Putin’s “number one foreign-policy objective.” “I think it was an enormous mistake to give them that and what he got in return shows the extraordinary naiveté of a presidency that does not understand the power of resolve and strength,” he said.

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