Britannia Radio

How can Sarkozy pretend to speak for the EU and make agreements in 
our name.  The Lisbon Treaty has not been ratified and M. Sarkozxy is 
not the EU’s elected president - just ex-officio temporary President 
of the European Council with 31/2 months to go!

He  can negotiate and could possibly be of help.  But he cannot make 
agreements for us - though he will certainly try!

Note what the Carnegie Moiscow Institute says:-
”The Russians were never planning to stay there indefinitely, and 
they wanted someone out there who they could trust, and they can 
trust the French. They want to turn Sarkozy into a privileged point 
of contact. It was a coup for Sarkozy and a coup for the French.”   
They may trust the French, but can we ?

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EU OBSERVER   9.9.08
EU secures deal on Russia withdrawal
    RENATA GOLDIROVA AND ELITSA VUCHEVA

Following four-hour talks between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev 
and French leader Nicolas Sarkozy, Moscow has agreed to pull out its 
troops "from the zones adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia to the 
line preceding the start of hostilities" by mid-October.

"This withdrawal will be implemented within 10 days of the deployment 
of international mechanisms in these zones, including no fewer than 
200 observers from the European Union, which must take place no later 
than 1 October 2008," Mr Medvedev said on Monday (8 September).

He promised to dismantle a security checkpoint near the Black Sea 
port of Poti deep in Georgian territory within seven days - 
stressing, however, that all depends on Georgia's commitment not to 
regain control over its two breakaway regions of South Ossetia and 
Abkhazia by force.

Under the deal, the new EU monitors will become guarantors of 
Georgian non-aggression. OSCE and UN monitors will also be allowed to 
return to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but it remains unclear how many 
Russian soldiers will stay in the two rebel enclaves for now.

Tbillisi, for its part, welcomed the EU-brokered deal, with President 
Mikheil Saakashvili describing it on Monday (8 September) as a "step 
forward."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was frank in his description of the 
agreement "Honestly, it's not over yet. We are not at the end of the 
road ... We are advancing step by step."

Should the Kremlin fall short of fulfilling its commitments "Europe 
will draw the conclusions," he added.

Moscow refuses to bow to pressure when it comes to its decision to 
recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states however, 
calling the move "a final and irreversible choice."

International talks in Geneva on 15 October will debate the future 
security in the breakaway regions and Georgian refugees' right of 
return, but will not discuss their future status, according to the 8 
September EU-Russia agreement.

The Kremlin also continues to accuse the United States of "actively 
helping" Georgia to "restore its military potential" - a claim that 
Washington denies.

UN hearing starts
Meanwhile, the UN's highest court - the International Court of 
Justice - on Monday (8 September) opened a three-day public hearing 
on a case of alleged ethnic cleansing by Russia in Georgia.

Tbillisi claims that Moscow has been conducting ethnic cleansing 
against Georgians in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and has called for 
urgent protection measures.

President Saakashvili also said he gave "solid proof" to EU leaders 
when they visited Tbilisi on 8 September that Russia started the war 
by moving to invade Georgia, not that Georgia started hostilities by 
attacking South Ossetia.

For its part, the Kremlin has denied the allegations and in return, 
is accusing Georgia of war crimes committed during its assault of 
Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia.

It is also threatening to have Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili 
tried as a war criminal, according to Russian news agency Ria Novosti.

====================
TELEGRAPH - Leader   9.9.08
Britain should not leave Russia to President Nicolas Sarkozy

President Sarkozy was has travelled to Russia to negotiate with its 
president, Dmitry Medvedev, on behalf of the European Union.

We should be sceptical that the meeting, in which Mr Sarkozy pressed 
for a Russian withdrawal from Georgia, will be a lasting success: the 
last time the French president negotiated with the Russians, he fell 
victim to Kremlin realpolitik. The Russians ignored the commitment to 
withdraw, citing technicalities in the agreement. [=’mistranslations’ 
-cs]

We should also be concerned, moreover, that we are leaving a vital 
part of Britain's foreign (and energy security) policy to Mr Sarkozy; 
he may have many virtues but his foreign policy interests are not 
necessarily identical to our own.

\Who knows what Franco-Russian deals he may be contemplating? From 
the EU's perspective, these negotiations are less about Georgia and 
more about seeking to build credibility as an international power 
broker.

Yet, without an army, navy and airforce, aggressors are never going 
to take an EU foreign policy seriously; and, while the europhiles 
would see that as an argument for an EU military arm, that would be a 
recipe for factionalism.

There will be a temptation, after the inevitable European 
humiliation, to pass the buck to other supranational institutions 
such as the G8 and the United Nations. This would be a mistake.

The world has returned to 19th Century-style great power struggles 
between nation states, uninhibited by international institutions. 
With a risk that Russian will impose its will on other neighbours 
such as Ukraine in the future, we cannot rely on impotent 
organisations to keep the peace.

Instead, it requires politicians here and the United States to wake 
up to their own national interests and take a tough line against 
Russian expansionism, which will be discouraged not by soft power but 
by strength.
=====================
FINANCIAL TIMES   9.9.08
Russia agrees to Georgia pullback
    By Charles Clover in Moscow and Tony Barber in Brussels

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president, on Monday agreed to dismantle 
Russian checkpoints in Georgia and replace its troops with 200 
European Union monitors by October 1, a breakthrough in peace 
negotiations that had been at stalemate for the past several weeks.

Checkpoints near the Georgian port city of Poti would be dismantled 
”within a week” said Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France. 
”Within a month, the Russian troops will have been withdrawn from 
Georgian territory with the exception of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” 
he added after a meeting with Mr Medvedev.

Mr Medvedev said Russia had agreed to ”complete withdrawal of Russian 
troops” from areas in Georgia proper to pre-conflict positions, and 
this would be implemented within 10 days of the ”deployment of 
international mechanisms”, including the 200 EU observers, which were 
to happen no later than October 1 2008.

Dmitri Trenin of the Carnegie Moscow Centre, the think-tank, said the 
agreement was a coup for both sides. ”The Russians were never 
planning to stay there indefinitely, and they wanted someone out 
there who they could trust, and they can trust the French. They want 
to turn Sarkozy into a privileged point of contact. It was a coup for 
Sarkozy and a coup for the French.”

Mr Sarkozy said that, if Russia kept the promises made on Monday by 
Mr Medvedev, the EU would resume talks with Moscow next month on a 
new long-term partnership agreement to replace a 10-year accord 
signed in 1997.

The EU decided at an emergency summit last week to postpone the next 
round of talks, due to be held next Monday, unless Russia pulled back 
its forces to positions occupied before the fighting erupted in 
Georgia on August 7.

Mr Medvedev said that Russian troops would pull out of the area 
immediately near the Black Sea port of Poti, and nearby areas, in the 
next seven days, but only if Moscow received a pledge from the 
Georgian side not to use force against Abkhazia.

According to the agreement, Georgia’s troops must return to their bases.
Mr Medvedev also accused the US of rearming Georgia after a ceasefire 
was agreed on August 12. ”Russia is completing it [the ceasefire 
agreement] to the full, but at the same time I could not claim the 
same about the Georgian party, which is trying to restore its 
military potential, and some of our partners, the United States, are 
actively helping them.”
The US has denied supplying weapons to Georgia.

Both Mr Medvedev and Mr Sarkozy faced embarrassment over Russia’s 
apparent failure to abide by the ceasefire agreement of August 12, 
when Russian forces continued to push forwards towards Tbilisi 
several days after Mr Medvedev ordered a cease fire.

Analysts blame poor communication with the military, and even 
disagreement between Mr Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, the powerful 
prime minister and former president.

Mr Trenin said: ”I would imagine the military were pressing very hard 
for solutions that would make sense militarily, so some compromise 
had to be reached.”

He added: ”It would be wrong to regard this as Medvedev’s weakness, 
because I don’t think he was the principal player. He was certainly 
part of the decision-making process, but in the regency that Russia 
is, the war-time president is Mr Putin, while the peace-time 
president is Mr Medvedev.”

However, most of the EU’s 27 member states had no appetite for 
tougher measures against Russia, let alone economic sanctions, in 
view of the EU’s heavy reliance on Russian oil and gas.

Germany and Italy, in particular, stressed the need to maintain 
channels of communication with Moscow and took the view that Mikheil 
Saakashvili, the Georgian president, bore more than a little 
responsibility for the outbreak of hostilities last month.