China Confidential
Foreign Reporting and Analysis Since April 2005
Monday, August 11, 2008
Back to the Cold War?
As if the United States does not have enough problems, the Bush administration seems bent on reviving the Cold War--and driving Russia and China closer together.
US Vice-President Dick Cheney on Sunday said Russia's military action against Georgia "must not go unanswered," as the conflict over the disputed territory of South Ossetia continued to escalate.
Cheney made his remarks while speaking with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. The US has sided with Georgia, a former Soviet republic, which has been lobbying for inclusion in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
According to Cheney's press secretary, Lee Ann McBride, he told Saakashvili: "Russian aggression must not go unanswered.... Its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States, as well as the broader international community."
Georgia on Our Minds? No Way!
Georgia's appeal for a ceasefire seemed to have fallen on deaf ears last night as Russian jets expanded their bombardment, targeting the capital, Tbilisi, for the first time. As the world's diplomats hurried to contain the violence and prevent the conflict engulfing the wider Caucasus region, Russia made clear it no longer considered Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili a partner, prompting accusations from his main ally, the United States, that Moscow was resisting peace and wanted regime change.
Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Temur Yakobashvili said Russian tanks tried to cross from South Ossetia into Georgia-controlled territory but claimed they had been forced to turn back by its forces. The tanks were apparently trying to approach Gori, a city of about 50,000 that sits on Georgia's only significant east-west highway, he said. Thousands of people were said to be fleeing ahead of the Russian advance.
Russia has made no secret of its dislike for Mr Saakashvili, his alliance with Washington, his attempts to join Nato and his oft-repeated pledges to bring two separatist provinces back under Tbilisi's control – a pledge he tried to make good on Thursday by sending troops into South Ossetia.
Why did the US forge an alliance with a former Soviet republic, knowing it would appear threatening to Russia? Why has the US--so many years after the collapse of the Soviet Union--persisted in using NATO as a lever against Russia? After 9/11, why didn't the US join with Russia to defeat a common enemy--radical Islam--the way Washington allied with Moscow (under Stalin) to defeat Nazi Germany? Why are relations with Russia so needlessly tense?
None of this makes sense. At a time when the US needs Russian (and Chinese) cooperation regarding nuclear-arming Iran, the US seems to have gone out of its way to deliberately provoke and antagonize the former Communist superpower.Sunday, August 10, 2008
US-Russian Relations Hit Post-Cold War Low
Foreign Confidential....
Seventeen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, relations between the United States and Russia are steadily worsening. Instead of partnering to make a better world and crush a common enemy--radical Islam--the two nations are again regarding each other as adversaries.
The US deserves most of the blame. Its insulting criticism of Russia, ridiculous democracy promotion crusade, and recognition of Kosovan independence from Serbia, a Russian ally, have needlessly raised tensions between the two superpowers.
The conflict in Georgia--a former Soviet republic to which the US has stupidly sent military advisers--is a significant setback for Washington. The fighting over a breakaway, pro-Russian enclave in Georgia (a) ends US plans to bring the country into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which Moscow contends should have been disbanded after the end of the Cold War, and (b) threatens to destroy or delay an ambitious US scheme to create and control an energy corridor linking Central Asia--historically part of Russia's sphere of influence--with Europe.
Monday, 11 August 2008
The Independent reports:
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