| From: | "Irina Malenko" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> |
| Reply-to: | [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
| Date: | Wed, 13 Mar 2002 07:37:52 +0000 |
http://www.therussianissues.com/print/13193.html The Russian Issues March 12, 2002 Russia Included in "Axis of Evil" (Nezavisimaya Gazeta) During the past several weeks the West has been steadily toughening its policy in respect to Russia. Moreover, this is being done in several key areas simultaneously. It is difficult to shake off the impression that some kind of comprehensive scene is being played out, the finale of which is aimed at seriously undermining Russia's positions on the world stage. Two months after the Pentagon submitted its plan to reorganize the country's nuclear forces to Congress, Washington resorted to a move that can only be viewed as propagandistic. Through The Los Angeles Times, it reminded the world that Russia not only remains the target of nuclear, possibly "preemptive," strikes. Russia has also been included in the ranks of the so-called "rogue" states that form the "axis of evil," which now includes not three, but seven countries. So, it turns out that the thesis that triggered an acute allergic reaction around the world, including among America's allies, was by no means a "slip of the tongue" by the president's speechwriter. The latter has already been sacked. Apparently, the "axis" itself, however, has been extended. The leak of "delicate" information that has been organized in the American press only continues the list of the West's conspicuously consistent steps. The scandal around the Russian athletes at the Salt Lake Olympics, the introduction of higher tariffs on imported steel, and the large-scale NATO maneuvers in Norway and Poland are all steps of various caliber aimed, nonetheless, at one target. Russia's international status is being destroyed before our very eyes. Moreover, Moscow obviously lacks the ability and perhaps the resources for reacting to all this in a comprehensive and flexible manner. Russia's attempt to get into a "side-seat" as the 20th chair in the NATO Council boomeranged into a very tough rebuke from NATO chief George Robertson: even though there had been periodical instances of cooperation with Moscow on a number of pressing issues, it was made clear that the Alliance had no intentions of changing its lineup. Russia has only just managed to hurriedly fold up its campaign of self-deceit in the media. Apparently, this campaign was aimed at demonstrating to the public, as well as to the country's leadership, the "successes" of the rapprochement with the West after the September 11 events. A new series of steps has followed lately. Instead of the "moderate" variant of enlarging NATO by four or five new members that Zbigniew Brzezinsky had spoken about, Czech President Vaclav Havel is insisting on a list of seven new "recruits." The host of the next summit has added Bulgaria and Romania to the Baltic countries, Slovenia and Slovakia. At the same time, Robertson himself, as well as NATO Parliamentary Assembly Vice President Markus Meckel, made it clear to the Slovaks that if they wanted NATO membership, they should get rid of Vladimir Meciar, a politician that has plans to run for the premiership and who is considered untrustworthy in the West. Brussels intends to leave no stone unturned to close the gap in its ranks - a gap through which Russian influence seeped time and again, not without Meciar's assistance. And so, in order to rapidly consolidate Slovakia's pro-western, Washington has decided to send an FBI team there. According to Slovak Vice President Pal Csaky, Bratislava is eagerly awaiting such assistance. And last but not least, Albania, Macedonia and Croatia have also requested NATO membership this year at the recent meeting of foreign ministers from the countries of the "Vilnius Ten." Macedonian Foreign Minister Slobodan Casule argues that it would be extremely dangerous to leave Europe's southeastern flank open without NATO's accountability until the next wave of enlargement. NATO's triumph in the Balkans is quite apparent. At the same time, the Finns have also made a sharp turn in order to get closer to NATO. Transport Minister Kimmo Sasi last week announced that Helsinki plans to officially declare its intentions to join the North Atlantic Alliance in 2004. And Sweden has clearly embarked on a pro-NATO course, in connection with which the authorities of the Scandinavian country plan to radically review their military doctrine. As a result, Russia's line of contact with NATO members will stretch practically from the Black Sea to the Barents Sea. Consequently, the waters and ports of the Baltic area will become "friendly" both for American and British naval ships. If Moscow intends to respond with countermeasures of a military nature, it would be interesting to know where it will get the resources However, if Moscow fails to take any action, then within the next couple of years one may expect radical military-political changes in Russia itself. That such changes will follow seem all the more probable because speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Nino Burdzhanadze, announced that NATO intends to seriously continue its efforts to provide for Georgia's security after meeting with Robertson at the end of last week. The planned participation of NATO's European forces in the operation in Pankisis Gorge is seen as the beginning of those efforts. More than that, the Georgian leadership, according to Presidential Adviser Shalva Pichkhadze, does not intend to stop there. The adviser reaffirmed that more profound military cooperation between Tbilisi and Washington should facilitate Georgia's accession to NATO. The adviser reaffirmed that more profound military cooperation between Tbilisi and Washington should facilitate Georgia's accession to NATO. Such prospects have apparently "inspired" the Chechen separatists as well. According to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, they have already taken a tougher negative stand in respect to talks with Moscow, the possibilities for which the Russian capital has been actively probing recently. Now it seems that the desire to seek compromises may pass into oblivion for good. More than that, on March 7, representatives of Chechnya and the West took a step that has all the chances of becoming a turning point. At The Hague, President Aslan Maskhadov's representative, Akhmed Zakayev, discussed the possibility of establishing a similar international tribunal for Chechnya with the chief prosecutor of the War Crimes Tribunal for Yugoslavia, Carla del Ponte. Such a tribunal would look into the actions of the Russian forces during the anti-terrorist operation. Apparently, the West intends to raise the problem of Chechnya to a new international legal level. Probably, this gave Zakayev reason to declare, "We are part of Europe, and so, Europe and the rest of the West must be part of the solution." This year seems to be turning out to be a history-making year as far as the West's relations with Russia are concerned. But so far, only one side is displaying any initiative.
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