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Izvestia September 21, 2001 A LEADER IS REQUIRED Putin is offered the chance to become father to a new system Author: Svetlana Babaeva, Georgy Ilichev [from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html] SOME RUSSIAN POLITICAL SCIENTISTS GATHERED YESTERDAY AT THE CIVIL DEBATE CLUB TO DISCUSS RUSSIA'S ROLE IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER AND FORMULATE A NEW AGENDA FOR THE GOVERNMENT. TO PREVENT ANY FURTHER STRIKES AGAINST CIVILIZATION, IT WOULD BE BETTER IF RUSSIA AND NATO MEMBERS FORM A REAL PARTNERSHIP. We are entering an undetermined situation. There is no place in the world for a new equivalent of the Roman Empire; but a leader is required. Putin may become such a leader if he does not allow his country to become involved in a war, proves capable of proposing unifying initiatives, and shapes Russia's interests and line of conduct. These are the opinions of some Russian political scientists who gathered yesterday at the Civil Debate club to discuss Russia's role in the new world order and formulate a new agenda for the government. There are other assessments. Economist Mikhail Delyagin, speaking about the US: "It has reclaimed the mandate of world leader." There is no consensus on evaluations of the general situation either: some consider that "World War IV" has started (the Cold War was considered to be World War III), others that "the old era has ended, while the new one has not yet begun". Despite the absence of a clear definition of the point we are at, the political scientists at Civil Debate (incidentally, they are sponsored by the authorities to some extent) tried to "shape the new agenda" for the Russian political establishment. Speakers said that this is the first large-scale crisis in which Russia can express its own position - a crisis in attempts to guarantee security for itself while ignoring the security of others. Political scientist Gleb Pavlovsky and other experts who may be described as close to the top decision-making circles proposed to develop a new security system. Their proposals can be reduced to some key points. The first is as follows: contemporary (also political) institutions, which had inherited much from the Cold War, have shown their inability to respond to new threats. It is necessary to reform NATO, the UN - and the UN Security Council, which must be "deprived of the status of Washington's regional committee" by means of admitting new members. In addition, the security system must be collective, without a dominant force but with a leader, possibly Putin, and all civilized countries as members of the system. Close cooperation between special services, especially in intelligence exchange, must become a "subdivision" of this system. Since Russia has various forms of intelligence, it will be able to be on an equal footing with the leading world powers, primarily with the US. Also, new initiatives and think-tanks are required; otherwise Russia will remain shackled by an antiquated foreign policy and will continue to "counter new threats by old methods". It is not ruled out that some of these initiatives will be announced by the president within days. Statements made by many senior state officials and political scientists are remarkably similar on a few points: the need to transform NATO into a structure which does not dictate ideology; the need to admit new states into the process of shaping the world order (via the UN Security Council); active cooperation between the G-8 member nations, especially their special services. Another point was mentioned by Alexander Auzan, director of the Consumer Groups Confederation, at a roundtable meeting. He said that society itself would cope with solving some of the problems - such as ethnic and religious conflicts, which will inevitably arise and which must not develop into international antagonism, relations between rich and poor, etc. He added: "As a citizen, a taxpayer, I am willing to pay additional taxes to maintain the special services if they deliver Khattab, Basaev, and others within a year, preferably to stand trial. However, I do not wish to pay for satellites which can detect the light of a cigarette but cannot see a detachment of 100 guerrillas." Another leading Russian political scientist, Dmitry Trenin, deputy director of the Moscow Carnegie Center, expressed a sharper opinion about Russia's foreign policy. He spoke of the role of a "junior partner" being prepared for Russia, rather than a leader's position. Trenin thinks that the major problem Russia faces now is simple and cruel: whether we should fight side by side with the Americans, or try to stay out of it. If we make the wrong decision here, we will have to pay a very high, almost exorbitant, price. Admitting the obvious - the fact that "the terrorist attacks proved to be an ugly and dreadful creation of US foreign policy" - Moscow will factually be forced to make decisions instead of America, Trenin believes. The difference between our countries' weight categories is that Russia may only claim the role of a junior partner of Washington, even though it might be "the senior among juniors". The US will be alone on the bridge. As Trenin said, it seems to many people in Russia that the most reasonable move now would be to stay out of this, allowing the Americans to make their decisions independently and bear the complete burden of responsibility for any unsuccessful military actions. However, says Trenin, in this case "we will be defeated one by one." According to him, "the next blow to contemporary civilization may turn out to be just as unexpected and even more painful" than passenger planes smashing into Manhattan. The only way out is to conclude a full-scale alliance between Russia and NATO, instead of a mythical "strategic partnership". (Translated by Andrei Ryabochkin) ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: archive@jab.org T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================