Cliff Kupchan
Cliff Kupchan
Cliff Kupchan is an American political analyst and former government official. He is the chairman of the political risk consulting and advisory firm Eurasia Group, where he specializes in Russia and Iran. Kupchan has been described as a "leading expert" on Iran, and has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin numerous times...
good pay russians stay
The Russians want to stay in very good graces, because there's a big pay day for them.
convinced driving lead medium oil pressure short system talks
I'm not convinced that talks would lead anywhere. (But) in the short to medium term, they would take the pressure out of the system that's driving oil prices.
cent coalitions component foreign future hope key leaves lesson per recovery rely second willing
The second lesson is that we can't rely on the Europeans. We can only hope on a 50 per cent recovery of that rift. So that leaves us with constructing issue-based coalitions of the willing as the key component of future US foreign policy.
extremely iran options picking range
You'd be picking a fight, though. Iran is a sophisticated country, with a very sophisticated leadership. It has a range of retaliatory options that are extremely unpleasant.
develop dying gas hurt prevent sanctions sitting ton
They know they're sitting on a ton of gas and they're dying to develop it. They can't do it by themselves, and sanctions that prevent them from doing it would hurt Iran.