Several of Maddy's statements during his speech were clearly aimed at Russia. I see that RIA Novosti picked up on some of the statements, but there were others as well. He was definitely sending a message, which I think was more than, 'See you on October 16, President Putin.' Putin will be in Iran on that date to attend the summit on Caspian Sea littoral states.
In any case, Maddy's major accomplishment at the UN seems to have been to persuade Angela Merkel to hang tough. She said to the UN General Assembly that Germany will " ... press for further, tougher sanctions if Iran doesn't back down. For me as German Chancellor, Israel's security is never negotiable."
Add to that President Nicolas Sarkozy's blunt call at the UN for tougher sanctions on Iran.
So Russia might decide to throw in with the US and the EU3 on the matter of piling on more sanctions -- despite Secretary Rice's dustup yesterday with her Russian counterpart over the matter of more sanctions.
Time for Washington to settle down to serious horsetrading with Moscow, for you can bet that Maddy plans to do the same when Putin comes calling.
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