MOSCOW, December 12 (RIA Novosti) – High-ranking diplomats from Russia and the United States will meet in Budapest on Thursday to discuss an ongoing missile defense dispute, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
U.S. plans to deploy a radar and a missile base in Central Europe purportedly to counter possible strikes from “rogue” states have angered Russia, which considers the plans a threat to its security. The sides have held a series of failed talks on the issue.
The unstated question here is how Iran changes the equation. We always hear about Iran’s quest for regional hegemony, and nothing backs that up like a Shahab 3 missile.
With all of Russia’s nationalist separatist issues, especially those with an Islamic component, one would think that they would see the above graphic as a threat. However, Russia has sold Iran ADA assets, it appears that they are putting profits ahead of any threat they view from Iran. Russia seems set on opposing US attempts at a missile shield, perhaps because Iran is a bigger threat to us than it is to them.
I’m not sure why we should be surprised by this.
Iran is not a threat to Russia because Russia has both the ability and the will-power to take them out should then deem it prudent.
USA is a threat because Russia can’t just take us out. So as long as there is bad blood between USA and Iran, Russia benefits from playing us off each other.