Russia and Central Asia News Digest
Blair Ridiculed by Putin During Russia Visit
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was snubbed, taunted, and all-around humiliated by Russian President Vladimir Putin at their joint press conference on April 29, British dailies reported. The lead headline in the Guardian cited Putin: "We are not with you and we don't believe you."
Blair's "fabled special relationship" with Putin did not survive much of the 63-minute press conference. Putin had invited Blair to his private dacha outside Moscow, but that did not help Blair. Putin not only refused to go along with the U.S. and U.K.'s totally hypocritical demands to lift UN sanctions on Iraq, but also, much more importantly, rejected Blair's "vision of a new world strategic partnership," which would consist of kowtowing to Washington. Putin specifically said that "the role of the UN should be not only restored, but strengthened."
Blair began blathering that the world faces a choice between "partnership" between the U.S. and leading nations, or a continued "diplomatic stand-off," and wanted Russia to accept this "partnership" in return for an extremely vague "vital role" for the UN in Iraq.
Putin was not fooled. He said that Russia and its partners "believe that until clarity is achieved over whether weapons of mass destruction exist in Iraq, sanctions should be kept in place."
With heavy irony, Putin reminded the "grim-faced Blair," as the London Times put it, that he had gone to war over these very "weapons." "Two weeks later, they have not been found," Putin said. "Where is Saddam? Where are those arsenals of weapons of mass destruction, if indeed, they ever existed? Perhaps Saddam is still hiding somewhere in a bunker underground, sitting on cases of weapons of mass destruction and is preparing to blow the whole thing up and bring down the lives of thousands of Iraqi people."
Until professional weapons inspectors have certified Iraq clear of the weapons, the sanctions should stay. "It is only the [UN] Security Council that is in a position to lift those sanctions; after all, they introduced them," he said.
On Blair's "vision thing," Putin was also direct: "If the decision-making process in such a framework is democratic, then that is something we could agree with; but if decisions are being made by just one member of the international community and all the others are required to support them, that is something we could not find acceptable."
"The tone and content of Mr. Putin's rebuff will cause deep anxiety inside Downing Street," the Guardian correspondent in Moscow noted April 30. Already, Downing Street is "concerned ... over the implications of the mini-EU defence summit in Brussels yesterday."
Blair is obviously also not very keen to go through another diplomatic battle like that before the Iraq war. He complained in Moscow: "Getting agreement with the UN is important, and it is important we get a vital role for the UN, but we are not going back into the rigmarole we had the last time over the second UN resolution."
Russian President Putin Chooses 'Old Europe'
Putin prefers old Europe to new Europe and the Bush Administration, a senior British military strategist observed to EIR on April 30, the day after the meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He added, "The Russians, not surprisingly, see it far more advantageous to become 'old Europeans' than new ones."
This source also said that the battle lines that existed before the war are continuing more or less unchanged. He saw the European defense meeting, which included France, Germany, Luxemburg, and Belgium, in that context, not as an attack on NATO, but a clear signal to the U.S. that they have not changed their positions. "The steadfastness of Germany and France on this policy has given Russia encouragement," the source added.
Top Ukrainian Scholar: LaRouche Leads the Resistance to Global Financial Oligarchy
The April 26 issue of the Ukrainian paper Dzerkalo Tyzhyna (Weekly Mirror) carried an article by Dr. Mykola Drobnokhod, President of the Academy of Higher Education, and member of the government's National Commission for Questions of Permanent Development. The title is "State labyrinth for the Ukrainian people: Will we find a way out?"
Discussing how "the globalized economy destroys national economies," the author writes that "the world financial oligarchy has no interest in stable development," human rights or helping the poor, but only wants to grab resources. But, he continues, "powerful resistance to these dangerous tendencies is definitely growing in the world. It is a thinking opposition, centered around the international Schiller Institute, the group of intellectuals around Lyndon LaRouche." In addition, Drobnokhod points out, countries like China and India, which have charted an independent path, are experiencing success.
May 29 Summit in Moscow for SCO
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will hold a summit in Moscow on May 29a day or so before the international celebration for the 300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg. Chinese President Hu Jintao will be visiting Russia for the SCO summit, and will also attend the St. Petersburg celebrations. Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee has already accepted the invitation to attend the St. Petersburg meeting, along with many other world leaders. India is not at this time a member of the SCO.
The Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the SCO nations, met at Almaty, Kazakhstan on April 29. The ministers are discussing the agenda and main issues for the upcoming SCO summit. At this gathering, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing met to discuss "the preparation of the first visit of PRC President Hu Jintao to Russia," Ivanov said today.
Ivanov also told Li about the just-completed summits of the European-Asian Economic Cooperation Organization (EurAsEc) and the newly inaugurated Collective Security Treaty Organization, which were held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
The nations in the SCO are China, Russia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Putin Chairs EurAsEc Summit; Collective Security Organization Formalized
On April 26, the Presidents of Russia, Belarus, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Armenia assembled in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, for a summit of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEc). The first five countries are EurAsEc members; Armenia has observer status. Russian President Vladimir Putin chaired the session.
Following the EurAsEc consultations, the same six nations held a summit of the now formalized Collective Security Treaty Organization (ODKB), which grew out of their pooling of efforts against terrorism and the narcotics trade. The Presidents signed the final documents to create the ODKB, endowing it with a budget, secretariat, military command structure, and a rapid-deployment force. The ODKB will use the Kant Airbase in Kyrgyzstan, which is located not far from recently built-up U.S. military facilities.
While in Tajikistan, Putin visited the 201st Division of Russian Military Forces, which is based there.
Growing Freight Volume on Eurasia's North-South Corridor
The second meeting of the coordinating council of the North-South International Transport Corridor, established by Russia, Iran, and India, was held in Tehran at the end of April. En route to the meeting, RIA-Novosti reported, Russian Deputy Transport Minister Chingiz Izmailov said these are plans to double containerized freight shipments along the corridor, from 4 million tons in 2002 to 8 million tons/year by 2005.
The next construction project for the North-South Corridor is a 51-km. rail line from the port of Olya on the north shore of the Caspian Sea, linking to the Volga Railroad. Russia intends to finance the project with an EBRD loan, private investment, and government funds. The North-South Corridor runs by sea from India to Iran, across Iran by rail, then across the Caspian to Russia's rail network.
Russian Foreign Minister Praises Mideast Peace 'Road Map'
"The full realization of the 'road map' by both sides should bring about the stable, much-hoped-for peace in the Middle East, which will not only be in the interests of the Israelis and Palestinians, but of all people who live in the Middle East," Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said April 30.
Parliamentary Factions May Launch No-Confidence Vote on Russian Government
Grigori Yavlinsky's Yabloko party announced April 25 that it would gather signatures in Parliament in favor of holding a no-confidence vote on the government of Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. Accusing the government of "absolute impotence," Yabloko offered to form a new cabinet. Yabloko by itself would not have the 90 signatures required, but on April 28 Communist Party (CPRF) leader Gennadi Zyuganov said that the CPRF and Yabloko were in consultation about an "action plan" to launch such a vote.
Yabloko's gambit is situated within the now-beginning campaign for this December's parliamentary elections. Yabloko parliamentarian Sergei Ivanenko said, "The critical mass of conflicts in the cabinet of ministers has exceeded the norm, and if the government is not changed now, when the situation in the country is rather stable, then a serious crisis might take place during the period of parliamentary and Presidential elections." At the same time, Russian press speculated that a power-play by economic clans was likely involved; Gazeta noted recent support for Yabloko by Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Yukos oil company (which just bought Sibneft, to become Russia's largest), and the possibility that Yukos vice president Leonid Nevzlin will run on the Yabloko slate.
Kasyanov's Cabinet continues to be caught up in turmoil among the ministers responsible for economic policy. Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref remains out of sight with unspecified health problems. On April 24, President Putin appointed two new Deputy Prime Ministers. Galina Karelova succeeds Valentina Matviyenko as Deputy Prime Minister for social policy. Boris Alyoshin, regarded as a protégé of Kasyanov, takes up the post of Deputy Prime Minister for Science, Industry and Technology. That job has been vacant since last year, since defense industry specialist Ilya Klebanov was booted, and relegated to the post of Minister of Science, Industry and Technology. The Moscow Times reports there is a plan afoot to disband the latter Ministry.
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