President Obama is going to Moscow for a summit on arms control. Many are praying that President Obama and President Medvedev would come out a deal on nuclear weapons. But lurking in the shadows is Russia’s Prime Minister Vladmir Putin.

President Obama is going to take another round the world trip next week. But it is his work to be done in Moscow that is hogging all the headlines. President Obama figurines are flying off the shelves. The public await him eagerly with free shot dedicated to his phrase “Yes-We-Can.”.

The politics though is rather murky. President Obama does not want to make the same mistake that President Bush did. He cannot trust the Russians much as long as Prime Minister Putin is still around. That is the first element of the dance.

There is also reports out that a deal has already been worked out between them to reduce the stock of deployed nuclear weapons and the permission to allow US to ship weapons across Russian’s air space to Afghanistan. No one is confirming this or denying this. But I think that this deal has to be sealed now. It would make people jittery is it does not go through.

Salvos are already being fired though. President Obama suggested to Associated Press that President Medvedev understands that the cold war is over but Prime Minister Putin does not. “Prime Minister Putin still has a lot of sway in Russia and I think that it’s important that even as we move forward with President Medvedev, that Putin understands that the old Cold War approaches to the U.S. – Russia relations are out dated.” – President Obama

A Russian diplomat countered this claim that President Obama is not fully informed about Russia. That to me is the shot to the American President what Republicans mantra all along : President Obama is naive.

The biggest stumbling block though is nothing but trust. Neither side seems to trust each other. Russia does not like being encircled with American bases at her borders. They also do not like many of her neighbors becoming NATO members due to its “one for all all for one” rule. America does not trust Russia and the Georgian War last year seems to vindicate it.

Something that has not been mentioned is Iran. Washington wants Moscow’s assistance in dealing with her Caspian Sea neighbor. Russia’s instant recognition of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in an obviously botched election is not helping relation either.

To me, something positive is already out of this with the lowering of nuclear stockpiles and the permission to allow US to ship weapons across Russian’s air space to Afghanistan. I think that there is really nothing much to lose, but nothing much to gain either.

Suggested reading : Reuters, CNN and Voice of America.

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