During his inauguration speech, U.S. President Barack Obama made it clear that his government would take a clean slate approach to international relations, with the goal of opening up dialogue with countries with whom relations had soured under the eight years of George W. Bush.  Even for the most recalcitrant, he offered the following: “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.“

In case there were any remaining doubts that Russia would have the opportunity to redefine relations with Washington, it wasn’t too long after when Vice President Joe Biden came out with the “reset button” line.  If Russia were at all uncomfortable with the idea of improving relations with the U.S., this would have been bad news, but least Sergei Lavrov seemed to think it sounded like a great idea at the time.

So then today we had long-time Russia correspondent Peter Baker of the New York Times come up with the scoop of the week – a “secret” letter delivered from President Obama to President Dmitry Medvedev, offering that the United States would pull back on plans to build anti-ballistic missile shield sites in Poland and the Czech Republic if Russia offered greater assistance in prevented Iran’s nuclear proliferation.  No sooner had this news been published, than the FT reported that Russian President had swiftly rejected the naive, Carter-esque offer at a news conference in Spain:  “If we are talking about some sort of trade or exchange, then I can say that the question cannot be put that way. Its not productive.“