ANOTHER FAMOUS VICTORY FOR "OUTREACH":  Oh, how our foreign-policy victories pile up – AT 9:58 A.M. ET:  Obama has poured a great deal of glittering outreach dust into Russia, and here is the result:

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the United States and other Western nations on Thursday against imposing unilateral sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, Interfax news agency reported.

The European Union has said it may impose unilateral sanctions if a U.N. Security Council resolution fails.

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has been lobbying Western companies not to do business with Iran, but has not imposed sanctions against them.

Countries facing Security Council sanctions "cannot under any circumstances be the subject of one-sided sanctions imposed by one or other government bypassing the Security Council," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Interfax.

"The position of the United States today does not display understanding of this absolutely clear truth."

COMMENT:  My, my, how friendly.  I guess that outreach really worked.

The fact is that, at best, the UN will only vote the mildest of sanctions – taking away the mullahs' Milky Way bars, or something similar.  Only unilateral sanctions can have any teeth.  The Russian attitude, combined with reports in recent days that Moscow may establish a nuclear relationship with Syria, shows once again the folly of "outreach," when it is not backed by firm policy. 

Iran has been out of the news in recent days, but it is one of our greatest challenges, and no progress is being made.

May 13, 2010