The Realist Prism: Obama Makes Fragile Gains on Iran and Russia
By
Nikolas Gvosdev
|
11 Jun 2010
The new Iran sanctions resolution cleared the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday by a vote of 12-2, with all five permanent members voting in favor. Does its passage represent a "diplomatic victory" for the Obama administration,
as some have claimed
? Or have the measures been so "watered down,"
as others argue
, that they are not likely to be effective in changing Iran's course of action? And how significant is Russia's apparent change of heart, ultimately supporting a fourth round of sanctions that it initially opposed?
To answer those questions, the vote at Turtle Bay needs to be put into a larger context. ...