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Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, meanwhile, got a taste last week of Republican hardball. In a one-hour meeting, presumptive G.O.P. presidential nominee George W. Bush says he told Ivanov "why we need to develop a system to protect ourselves." The same day, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jesse Helms fired his own ICBM. Fearing the White House was about to make a deal to limit the shield a future President might want to build, Helms announced that his committee will bottle up any arms treaty Clinton negotiates during his final months in office. "Not on my watch!" Helms thundered.
Putin may still decide it is better to take Clinton's offer, and see if Helms makes good on his threat, rather than face possibly tougher terms from a Republican President. It's a throw of the dice--but it's probably no more uncertain than the missile shield Washington wants to build.