Posted on 02/24/2005 2:04:23 PM PST by wjersey
Bratislava, Slovakia, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- We may not yet be talking about divorce but the extended honeymoon period between U.S President George W. Bush and his increasingly autocratic Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin came to a definitive end Thursday at a summit between the two leaders in the Slovak capital of Bratislava.
It all happened following the end of bilateral talks when a televised press conference turned into a relentless and devastating assault on Putin's backsliding on democratic reform.
Since global democratization has been made the centerpiece of Bush's second term foreign policy agenda, analysts and politicians in the United States and elsewhere had billed this meeting as the first key test of the American president's credibility.
As Russia analysts James M. Goldgeier and Michael McFaul had put it in a commentary in the current issue of the Weekly Standard:
"If the president neglects to affirm his commitment to freedom with Putin at his side, Bush will be signaling that his words don't count."
So most of us were expecting the issue to be raised, if only in passing.
But no one could have been prepared for what was about to unfold.
While observing diplomatic niceties, President Bush's opening remarks included a pointedly blunt statement of his concern that Russia was not fulfilling "fundamental" democratic principles.
And this was nothing to what President Putin was forced to endure in the subsequent questions, every single one of which focused on democracy.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
well exactly.......that is really what I meant, lean on him and show him that Europe, Ukraine etc all weigh against him.....Putin knows all this stuff anyway, sometimes you have to give a guy a way out so he still looks good for his people......
"I can't wait to see how the NY Slimes characterizes this press conference. Wanna bet it won't seem anything like this?"
Page 13 - Bush met Putin thursday
I watched that press conference and I didn't see that at all. I thought they did really well. Bush defended Putin and Putin defended Bush.
A slavishly loyal question to Putin from Russia's Interfax news agency merely served to underline how far Russia now stands from normal democratic procedures.
The reporter petulantly asked what this talk about lack of freedom in Russia "was all about" suggesting President Putin should raise issues about press freedom in the United States. Journalists lose their jobs in America too, he said.
I'm sure c-span will replay it a few times on tv.
It will also be available, at your convenience, on their c-span.org video streaming.
I didn't see it either, and will look for it later today. This is something I want to see.
But what did Putin look like?
Heh-heh. Need some wood?
I always look forward to meetings between GW and Vlad because at some point the president starts calling him Puddin'.
You are so right. This is not pattycake.
Like you. lol ya beady eyed rat
Now, carl, don't come around here trying to make SENSE.
We have no interest in Russia's oil. It would cost 10 large fortune's to update the machinery and transport facilities.
He called him Vladimir, period. I don't think he called him President Putin once.
And when the mike went dead, he was G O N E in twenty minutes, on Air Force 1, as Fox News had it on its scroll.
Then why are there so many of the officials and advisors in this administration who have been such strong supporters of military action in Iraq as part of the "war on terror" -- yet have also been critical of the Putin government's heavy-handed tactics in dealing with radical Islamic extremists in Chechnya?
What planet are you living on?
Sounds like you need to get a better handle on yourself. Americans may not care directly about the Russians. However, they do care about Global Terror. It looks like Bush and Putin are both in sync on that one and that is important.
We bailed Russia out from mass starvation.
Wow. We had the exact same reaction to jagrmeister's post.
jager has had one too many jagers ...
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