USA TODAY: …“I think everybody understands — if they don’t, they haven’t been listening to my speeches — that I want to reduce nuclear stockpiles,” Obama said. “And one of the barriers to doing that is building trust and cooperation around missile defense issues. And so this is not a matter of hiding the ball.”
The Russians have vehemently opposed building the system in Europe, but the White House maintains that the president is committed to the project. Administration officials have stressed that the missile defense system is intended to stem the threat from Iran; the Russians believe the system targets them…..
“I don’t think it’s any surprise that you can’t start that a few months before presidential and Congressional elections in the United States, and at a time when they just completed elections in Russia,” Obama said… (more)
