Posted on 06/25/2002 6:03:33 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin defended his new pro-West foreign policy as the best guarantor of Russia's economic growth and denied claims it had caused a rift within the country's political and military establishment.In a wide-ranging press conference, Mr. Putin said his top priority was to stimulate growth, boost foreign trade and "lift the country out of poverty" -- a task he said could be accomplished only by making Russia a more trustworthy partner in the eyes of the West.
"Russia must change from a country that was an adversary or an enemy for the vast majority of industrially developed countries of the world into a partner -- a full and equal partner," he said. "This is the main task of Russia's foreign policy."
Mr. Putin's decision to align Russia more closely with the West since last September's terror attacks on the U.S. has brought some economic dividends, but also criticism from conservatives who say Russia has made too many concessions.
Mr. Putin has acquiesced to the presence of U.S. troops in Central Asia and Georgia; softened his objections to the enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; and bowed to the Bush administration's decision to build a missile defense shield -- a move he once claimed would start a new Cold War.
Mr. Putin acknowledged that the government's decision-making process often generated "tough arguments," but stressed that his new foreign policy had the full backing of the military and political elite. Russia's generals "are not aggressive people who think only about unleashing a nuclear or conventional war," he said. "They are modern people who understand economic and political realities and are capable of looking into the future."
Throughout the two-hour Kremlin press conference, Mr. Putin stressed the need to strengthen Russia's economic ties with the West and played down thorny disputes left over from the Cold War era. He called for Russia to join the World Trade Organization, saying that staying out would be "dangerous and stupid." But asked about Estonia's plans to join NATO -- something he once categorically opposed -- Mr. Putin said Russia would "respect the choice of the Estonian people."
The president also struck a conciliatory note on Georgia, saying Moscow had been partly to blame for years of poor relations with its westward-leaning southern neighbor. He also poured cold water on a pet project of his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, to reunite Russia with neighboring Belarus, led by the authoritarian and anti-Western Alexander Lukashenko.
Asked to name his strongest political ally, he replied "the Russian people," drawing applause from the several hundred assembled journalists. Thirty years living in a communal apartment in St. Petersburg, he said, meant he could easily identify with ordinary Russians.
Critics have long accused the Kremlin of shutting down independent media critical of its policies. Questioned on the need for a free press, Mr. Putin said the main task was to make the media financially independent so it could not be used as a weapon in commercial disputes. "Only when the press becomes self-sufficient and independent of business interests ... will it be truly free," he said.
As far as selling weapons to China, remember that for a long time, weapons were practically Russia's main product under communism, and their sale brings in badly needed cash. Nobody outside the Soviet zone buys Russian cars and computers and such, so ya gotta sell something to pay the bills. China shares a red commie foundation with Russia's past as well as a border so there is some natural inclination for trade. But I don't think the Russians trust the Chinese a bit, and they are smart enough to know that alliance with the (future enemies) of the West is a losing proposition. They will play the Chinese for money as long as possible. If they can build a better trade with us, and begin to transition from a military economy to a consumer one, so much the better. We must help this process by buying Russian products when they become available. I know, buy American first, but if nobody buys Russian goods then their transition will fail, and they'll be right back to building tanks again. China doesn't really need Russian arms in the future anyway...the Russians have noticed, as has everyone else, that almost everything is MADE IN CHINA now anyway. Including improved copies of Russian arms. And US arms. And...
IMHO...it was in our best interest to assist the new Russian Federation so that they would not be tempted to deal with those that wish to destroy us.
It would not help the USA if Russia fell into chaos...the vacuum may have enabled the Chinese, the Arab countries to occupy this land of immense mineral/oil resources.
The Former Soviets, meanwhile, get everything the Commies ever wanted AND a big sloppy kiss from the prostate, adoring West to boot.
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