Caspian charade

Last I remember, it was Putin himself who offered the shared use of a military installation in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan in an attempt to thwart American plans to build new missile defense stations in the Czech Republic and Poland.  The official reason for these systems is to provide the West with an early warning of any surprise ballistic missile launch from a nuclear Iran.  The United States offered Putin a counterproposal, suggesting the Russians keep their Soviet-era site and instead plug it into a larger, shared defense network that would include the new Polish and Czech installations.

Although the purpose of the missile system is strictly defensive, and no agreement by the Americans to use the Azerbaijani site has yet been publicized, Putin is accusing the US of threatening to use Azerbaijan as a launching point for attacks on Iranian targets.   Let’s get this straight:  Putin says it’s OK for the US to have defensive capabilities at a shared location within a stone’s throw of Iran (and Russia!), but we had better not use it as a launching pad for striking Iran.  Putin has either acquiesced on the idea of shared missile defense (with an increased US presence in Eastern Europe) or is sending a heavily caveated message to a roguish Iran that the depths of Caspian brotherhood are not limitless.

Or both.