THE WEEKEND SUMMIT meeting between President Bush and President Vladimir Putin of Russia was packaged as the last between the two leaders. When the Russian-American dialogue resumes with new leaders, however, the same national interests will be at stake, and the same key issues will be on the table.
So the most encouraging outcome of the final Bush-Putin summit was the "strategic framework" they announced at the Black Sea resort of Sochi: a road map for future bilateral relations.
Bush had sought Russian assent to his scheme for deploying a missile defense system in Central Europe, arguing that the radar system to be installed on Czech soil and the 10 antimissile interceptors planned for Poland are intended solely to defend against long-range missiles from Iran. Putin has countered that the system could be expanded to counter Russian ICBMs, thereby degrading Russia's nuclear deterrent.
Because this dispute has become a major - and unnecessary - irritant in US-Russian relations, Bush's failure to win Russia's acceptance of the missile defense system may turn out to be the healthiest result of the summit. At any rate, this is an issue best left to Bush's successor.
The missile defense system is a foolish venture. Until realistic tests prove that the current system can overcome its present inability to discriminate between live warheads and easily produced decoys, the technological argument against deployment of the system is overwhelming. And never mind the Kremlin's fear that such a missile defense system means Washington has revived a Cold War-style containment policy. The new president will have to question the signals it sends to others. If the system is to be directed solely at Iran, doesn't that mean that America accepts that a nuclear-armed Iran is inevitable?
And if the system is meant only to protect Europe from Iranian missiles, why are the governments of Western Europe so unenthusiastic about the plan?
Despite Putin's insistence at Sochi that there is "no change in our fundamental attitude" toward the missile-defense quarrel, he and Bush were able to agree on an agenda for future cooperation on counter-terrorism; trade and Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization; nuclear non-proliferation; and energy policy. This is a road map their successors should be willing to follow. It will be much easier to follow once the barricade of Bush's missile-defense plan has been removed.
