What reputation? Moscow has ALWAYS had a reputation as a nasty, treacherous, bully. Russia has NEVER honored ANY treaty it has ever signed. B
Moscow's reputation 'in tatters' By Sylvie Lanteaume in Washington August 18, 2008 07:32am Article from: Agence France-Presse Font size: <http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24197988-401,00.html> + <http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24197988-401,00.html> - Send this article: <http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24197988-401,00.html> Print <http://www.news.com.au/email/popup/0,23605,24197988-401,00.html> Email US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice overnight urged Russia to honour a pledge to withdraw its forces from Georgia, warning Moscow's reputation lay in tatters, as she prepared for crisis talks with NATO allies. "There is a ceasefire and Russia is currently not in compliance with this ceasefire,'' Ms Rice told Fox News Sunday, urging Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to keep his side of the French-brokered deal. She added the Russians "have just this morning (Sunday) announced that their troops will begin to withdraw and withdraw fully and completely back to the lines prior to this conflict tomorrow. On Monday. "This is the promise that the Russian President has given to the French President .. I hope this time he'll keep his word.'' She also castigated Moscow for the eruption of violence in the Caucasus saying it was paying the price for its display of "disproportionate force against a small neighbour.'' "Russia's reputation as a potential partner in international institutions, diplomatic, political, security, economic, is, frankly, in tatters,'' she told NBC's Meet the Press in a separate live interview. Ms Rice briefed US President George W. Bush over the weekend at his Texas ranch after her lightning visit to Georgia, where during marathon talks she persuaded Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to sign a ceasefire deal. She was due to leave again early today for Brussels, where she is to join crisis talks called by Washington with its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Moscow is furious at Georgia's attempt to join NATO, and alliance foreign ministers will meet on Tuesday to show their support for Georgia. But they remain divided on how to deal with a resurgent Moscow, with some western leaders unwilling to see ties with oil-rich Russia deteriorate any further. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said overnight before talks with Mr Saakashvili: "Georgia will become a member of NATO if it wants to -- and it does want to.'' It was one of the strongest statements yet of support for Georgia's NATO membership bid. Ms Rice also said Friday during a press conference in Tbilisi that she was certain NATO would remain open to embracing both Georgia and Ukraine as members. She again hinted that Russia must face "consequences'' for the five-day war which erupted as Russian forces sought to crush a Georgian army assault against pro-Moscow separatists in Georgia's region of South Ossetia. Ms Rice did not specify what reprisals might follow, but US officials have mentioned in past days Moscow's bid to join several exclusive clubs such as the World Trade Organization. Others have hinted that Moscow could be barred from the G8, which may return to being the Group of Seven most industrialised nations as in 1997. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said meanwhile that Russia's invasion of Georgia suggested Prime Minister Vladmir Putin held the reins of power and not Mr Medvedev. "There's been a lot of signals from Putin that he was going to allow power to flow, stay with the president, that Medvedev would be in charge, would be the person responsible for leading Russia, going forward,'' Mr Gates said. "Steps he's taken in the transition from president to prime minister, and recent weeks, now certainly in Georgia, at least in my opinion, speak more of Putin having his hand on the steering wheel than anybody else.'' In another move sure to infuriate the Russians, Ms Rice confirmed overnight that she would travel to Warsaw soon to ink a key missile defense shield pact reached only days after the start of Russia's military operation. "I'm going to Poland to sign a missile defense agreement in the next couple of days, after the NATO meeting,'' she told Fox News Sunday. Poland, a former Soviet satellite and now staunch US ally which joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, had earlier appeared reticent over the deal. News of the deal sent Moscow-Warsaw ties nose-diving, with a Russian general warning on Friday that Poland was making itself a target by agreeing to host the missiles. The Bush administration however remains wary of aggravating the situation and it seems unlikely that Ms Rice will visit Ukraine, another pro-West former Soviet republic, in the coming days. . <http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97359714/grpId=11648958/grpspId=1705447214/msgI d=69681/stime=1219023978/nc1=1/nc2=2/nc3=3> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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