Henry Kissinger writes on the Obama Administration’s foreign policy today in the Washington Post, and, as usual, he frames most relationships under the aegis of realism (including all the assumptions of rational agency).  Though more about Iran and North Korea than Russia, Kissinger does note that U.S.-Russia relations will have an impact on negotiations with Iran … which we think is the understatement of the year.

Obama has launched negotiations on an extraordinary range of subjects. Each has a political as well as a strategic component. Each deals with issues peculiar to itself. Each runs the risk that inherent obstacles could obscure ultimate objectives or that negotiating tactics could warp substance. But the challenges are also closely related. For example, arms control negotiations with Russia will affect Russia’s role in the nonproliferation effort with Iran. The strategic dialogue with China will help shape the Korean negotiations. The negotiations will also be affected by perceptions of regional balances — of the key participants, for Russia, this applies especially to the former Soviet space in Central Asia; for China and the United States, to the political structure of Northeast Asia and the Pacific Rim.