Shelving plans to put AMD in Eastern Europe comes as the first clear sign that President Barack Obama really wants a new kind of relationship with Russia, said former European Parliament member Giulietto Chiesa.
“A significant part of the European Parliament agreed with the idea of locating missiles in Europe, and now the fact that the US refuse to go on will create a big problem, but still I believe this move is a good sign, ” Chiesa said.
“I think this move has been very well meditated and thought over, and it is the beginning of a dialogue,” Chiesa added.As for the “reset” in Russian-US relations, which has been much talked about recently, Giulietto Chiesa believes the “reset button” has not fully locked in place, but one has to take into consideration the situation Obama is in now:
“He had and he still has so many problems. In fact, the Bush administration created a very bad set of relations with Russia, so turning it over onto the right side will require time.”
The second problem that would be raised by Russia is the expansion of NATO involving Ukraine and Georgia, said the analyst.
“This is another issue on which Moscow will certainly want to hear something new from President Obama.”