[Via Communist Internet... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2001 12:24 PM Subject: "Day of mourning, but also of warning, a reminder" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday June 22, 6:29 PM Putin evokes threat of "world dominance" on anniversary of Nazi invasion "This is a day of mourning, but also a day of warning, a reminder." MOSCOW, June 22 (AFP) - President Vladimir Putin warned Friday that lessons of World War II should teach global powers that Russians would not stand for attempts at "world dominance" from other corners of the globe. In a nationally televised address devoted to the 60th anniversary of Nazi Germany's attack on Soviet soil during World War II, Putin starkly observed that "the roots of fascism" had not been completely eradicated. "They still emit their poison in different parts of the earth," said Putin, dressed in somber black suit, the Russian president's standard raised behind his Kremlin desk. "And to this day the world has not rid itself of ideologies that teach extreme nationalism, religious fanaticism and the idea of world dominance," Putin said. Putin's patriotic message came one week after his historic summit with US President George W. Bush, at which he defended Moscow's arguments against Washington's plans for NATO expansion and a controversial missile defense shield. Although his speech Friday focused in equal part on the dangers of radicalism like the type threatening Russia in the separatist republic of Chechnya, it also appeared aimed at the international audience. Indeed the Kremlin chief used the occasion to give an insight into the Russian patriotic soul. Putin stressed that Russian nationalism and pride would never be appreciated without the understanding that the country lost more than 20 million people in its fight against the Nazi invasion. "No one will understand Russia until they know what our people lived through in the war, what experience they had gained at the front," said Putin. "They would not understand our special attitude towards the army and the defenders of the fatherland," he said. On June 22, 1945 [Should be 1941 - RR] "the people made their choice. In this moment of danger they chose to defend their fatherland to the last. They would not give up their homeland to the enemy," he said. Putin's emotional delivery comes against a delicate diplomatic background of the Russian leader trying to present a civil, even genial, attitude in his arms debate with Bush while also underlining his determination to stand up to Russia's national interest. The media and analysts here have been almost evenly divided over how well Putin had done in Ljubljana -- if he was indeed too chummy with Bush or had argued Moscow's stance well. His next meeting with Bush is scheduled for next month at the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy and diplomats both in Moscow and Washington are straining to underline the positives of the two leaders having regular meetings after getting off on a distinctly chilly note. Indeed an echo of that difficult start reverberated Thursday when officials here confirmed that 46 US diplomats had been told to quit Russia by July 1, a tit-for-tat response in a spy scandal that threw Moscow's relations with Washington to post-Cold War era lows. "These expulsions do not in any way contradict what the Ljubljana summit was about. The two presidents may have found a common language, but everything takes second place to the defense of national interests," noted Sergei Markov, a political scientist at Moscow State University. Meanwhile Putin, who lost a brother in World War II, vowed to fight all those who intend to "tarnish the memory" of those who fell. "This is a day of mourning, but also a day of warning, a reminder," said Putin. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
