[A-List] Putin Declares Moratorium on CFE Treaty + Russian Official Dismisses U.S. Shield Cooperation

[Nestor Gorojovsky]

In fact, what has happened is that the USA have overtly -and probably 
forever- put an end to any hope of "pacific coexistence", and the 
leadership in the USSR is taking due note (and makes the world know 
it).Pacific coexistence was a direct consequence of the dream of 
"socialism in a single country". Its final dismissal shows that USA, 
as the head of the cartel of imperialist nations, is bent on a 
policiy that not only makes "socialism in a single country" an 
Utopian pipe dream, but also "self-centered capitalism in a single 
country other than the imperialist core" a stupid farce.

Somehow uncomfortable, but at the same time amazingly funny to live 
through these times where Clio displays her ironic mood in this most 
awkward way.

Date sent:      	Thu, 26 Apr 2007 21:03:15 -0400
From:           	Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages at gmail.com>
Subject:        	[A-List] Putin Declares Moratorium on CFE Treaty + Russian Official
	Dismisses U.S. Shield Cooperation
To:             	A-List <a-list at lists.econ.utah.edu>
Send reply to:  	The A-List <a-list at lists.econ.utah.edu>

> Apparently, Putin doesn't think Washington's overture on missile
> defense merits a positive response. -- Yoshie
> 
> <http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11721780>
> Apr 26 2007 1:23PM
> Putin declares moratorium on CFE Treaty
> 
> MOSCOW. April 26 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has
> suggested declaring a moratorium on Russia's observance of the
> Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty until all NATO
> member-states have joined it.
> 
> "I deem it appropriate to declare a moratorium on Russia's observance
> of this treaty at least until all NATO countries without any exception
> have ratified it," Putin said in his state of the nation address on
> Thursday.
> 
> <http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyI
> D=2007-04-24T184113Z_01_L24209157_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-SHIELD-GATES-COL.XML&
> archived=False> Russian official dismisses U.S. shield cooperation Tue
> Apr 24, 2007 2:41 PM EDT By Kristin Roberts
> 
> WARSAW (Reuters) - Russia's foreign minister on Tuesday dismissed a
> U.S. offer of cooperation in missile defence activities, marking a
> setback in Bush administration efforts to convince Moscow and allies
> of plans for a European shield.
> 
> Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia felt it was being handed a
> fait accompli by Washington and had no interest in participating in
> the defence plan.
> 
> That came despite an attempt on Monday by U.S. Defense Secretary
> Robert Gates to allay Russian objections to plans for an anti-missile
> shield in eastern Europe by offering Moscow a chance to cooperate, for
> example, by sharing data from early warning systems and conducting
> joint exercises.
> 
> "We have the impression that everything has already been decided in
> Washington," Lavrov told reporters in Luxembourg. "We cannot really
> see that we could join."
> 
> He also warned the U.S. plan, if implemented, "could destabilize the
> situation in Europe."
> 
> Those comments followed Gates' meetings in Moscow, where he received a
> cool reception from senior leaders, including President Vladimir
> Putin. It also came as Poland's defence minister said for Warsaw to
> accept Washington's plan, the shield must increase security for
> Poland.
> 
> Washington wants to place 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a
> radar in the Czech Republic to defend against what it perceives as a
> potential future threat from Iran.
> 
> But the plan has provoked an angry reaction and determined opposition
> in Moscow, which thinks the U.S. shield may hurt its national
> security. The dispute has helped drive relations between Moscow and
> Washington to a low, drawing comparisons to the Cold War.
> 
> Some European countries, in fact, fear a resurgence of Cold War-like
> hostility that will catch Europe again between two large adversaries.
> 
> "We don't want to be a football in between Russia and the United
> States," Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, an early critic
> of the U.S. missile shield plan, told reporters in Luxembourg on
> Tuesday. "We want the United States, Russia and Europe to play
> together in a common defence project."
> 
> POLISH CONCERNS
> 
> The plan has caused concerns in Poland as well, with surveys showing
> most Poles oppose the idea and fear the country could become a target
> of a terrorist attack.
> 
> Warsaw is a strong U.S. ally, having committed forces to the U.S.-led
> wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
> 
> Senior Bush administration officials had said they expect Poland to
> take the next step toward hosting a piece of the missile defence
> system by agreeing to negotiate on a site. But the Polish government
> was clearly not ready to make the move on Tuesday.
> 
> "What has been presented to Poland is only a proposal," Defence
> Minister Aleksander Szczyglo told reporters after meeting with Gates
> in Warsaw on Tuesday. "On the premise of a proposal, it would be
> groundless to forecast what may happen or what may not happen."
> 
> He said the plan must increase Poland's security to be accepted.
> 
> "The condition of success of negotiations in this respect is only one
> --- these negotiations can be successful if the level of Poland's
> security is thus increased."
> 
> When asked, Szczyglo declined to say if that meant Warsaw wanted U.S.
> Patriot missiles to defend against a potential threat from Russia
> should Poland accept Washington's proposal over Moscow's objections.
> 
> Gates next heads to Berlin to discuss the U.S. proposal with Germany's
> defence minister on Wednesday.
> 
> Missile defence is also expected to dominate a meeting between
> Russia's Lavrov and NATO foreign ministers, including U.S. Secretary
> of State Condoleezza Rice, in Oslo on Thursday. (Additional reporting
> by David Brunnstrom and Michele Sinner in Luxembourg)
> 
> <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6595233.stm>
> Thursday, 26 April 2007, 11:32 GMT 12:32 UK
> Excerpts: Putin's address
> 
> Vladimir Putin has attacked foreign intervention in Russia, the US
> missile defence plan and called for an increase in domestic oil
> processing in a defiant final annual address to parliament before he
> steps down as Russian president in 2008.
> 
> ON FOREIGN INTERVENTION
> 
> Some want to return to the past to rob the people and the state, to
> plunder the natural resources and deprive our country of its political
> and economic independence. The financial flow from abroad is expanding
> to intervene in our internal affairs.
> 
> Democratising slogans are used, but the goal is the same: to gain
> unilateral advantages and personal benefits, to secure one's own
> interests. Some people are even using the most dirty techniques,
> trying to incite interethnic and interconfessional conflicts in our
> multinational, democratic country. In this regard, I urge you to
> quickly adopt amendments to legislation that toughen responsibility
> for extremist activities.
> 
> ON OIL
> 
> In 2006 Russia was the world's top oil producing country. But in the
> area of oil processing we are fundamentally lagging behind. The
> government should draw up a system of measures to stimulate an
> increase in the processing of raw materials within Russia.
> 
> Without infringing the interests of our foreign partners, we should
> nonetheless think of the development of our own processing base.
> 
> ON MISSILE DEFENCE
> 
> It is obvious that the United States' plans to deploy a missile
> defence system in Europe are not exclusively a Russian-American
> relations problem. To some extent it affects the interests of all
> European states, including those that are not Nato members This issue
> deserves, I would even say demands, to be discussed at the OSCE
> (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe), in the
> framework of the organisation's military-political dimension.
> 
> It is time to fill the OSCE's activities with real content, to steer
> the organisation to face the problems that truly concern the peoples
> of Europe, rather than merely seeking fleas across the former Soviet
> Union.
> 
> ON HIS SUCCESSOR
> 
> The next state of the nation address will be given by another head of
> state ... it is premature for me to declare a political will.
> 
> ON BORIS YELTSIN
> 
> He considered a direct, open dialogue with people to be exceptionally
> important. He considered it necessary to present the problems and
> priorities of state policy for public discussion. He saw in that one
> of the most important tools for uniting society, tools for real
> democracy.
> 
> The real threat to the security of Russia and its integrity was
> separatism. In this respect, there was a critical lack of resources to
> solve the most fundamental, vital problems. But it was precisely in
> that period - in that difficult period - that the foundation of future
> changes was laid.
> 
> ON THE MILITARY
> 
> The re-equipment of units with new and modernised weapons and
> technology is going according to plan.
> 
> An important indicator of the state of the armed forces is the state
> of the social guarantee system for military personnel and their family
> members. By 2010, the task to give them permanent housing has to be
> solved unconditionally.
> 
> ON RUSSIA'S ECONOMY
> 
> Despite the social and political problems, we built a new life. As a
> result, the situation in the country - slowly, step by step - began to
> change for the better. Now, not only have we fully ended the decline
> of production, we have become one of the ten biggest economies in the
> world.
> 
> ON 2007 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
> 
> The forthcoming election to the State Duma will be based for the first
> time on the so-called proportional system. This means that only
> political parties will take part in the election.
> 
> I would stress that we have knowingly taken this, in essence
> revolutionary, step and have seriously democratised the electoral
> system. We should directly say that previous elections based on the
> old single-seat system, or single-seat constituencies to be exact, did
> not prevent influential regional structures from passing their
> so-called own candidates with the use of administrative resources.
> 
> I'm convinced that the new electoral procedure will not only step up
> the parties' influence over the formation of democratic power, but
> will also contribute to the growth of rivalry among them.
> Consequently, it will strengthen and improve the quality of the
> Russian political system .
> 
> ON NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS
> 
> In democratic conditions, it is impossible to imagine political
> processes without the participation of non-governmental associations,
> without consideration for their views and positions.
> 
> The number of non-governmental organisations operating in this country
> is also growing, as is their number of voluntary members, who perform
> various socially important functions, and various kinds of socially
> important work. There are already about eight million of them in
> Russia. All these are real indicators of an active civil society
> forming in Russia. -- Yoshie
> 



Este correo lo ha enviado
Néstor Miguel Gorojovsky
nestorgoro at fibertel.com.ar
[No necesariamente es su autor]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 
"La patria tiene que ser la dignidad arriba y el regocijo abajo".
Aparicio Saravia
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _