David Satter, writing in the WSJ says that President Obama has fallen into a trap of ‘his own making’ such that he is virtually obliged to make pre-concessions. Satter says:

President Barack Obama arrives here today facing a dilemma of his own making. Having called for a “reset” in U.S.-Russian relations, the U.S. side is virtually obliged to make some new overtures. But Russia does not need to be engaged. It needs to be deterred.

The expectations that Mr. Obama has inspired are substantial. Both officials and ordinary citizens in Russia interpret the call for a reset as an admission of U.S. guilt for ignoring Russia’s interests. Sergei Rybakov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, said that mutual trust was “lacking over the last several years.” It was the task of the U.S. to show its good intentions with “concrete actions” because in Russia, the U.S. is “deeply distrusted.”

In other words, the Obama has hamstrung himself before his big event with Russia. Where Satter may wrong is in assuming that Obama has mistakenly dug himself into a hole. He may, out of the desire to expiate some guilt, or some misguided sense of fairness, imposed these constraints on his own side.