Free Republic

21 February 2006 Europe at a crossroads Address to the American University of Rome by Marcello Pera 1. A geopolitical continental drift The subject I intend to address today is the crisis of the West, and particularly of Europe. In my view this crisis is twofold, both geopolitical and spiritual, with the latter as the main cause of the former. The fact that the Old Continent is in a state of deep crisis has been upheld by many distinguished scholars, observers and a few – unfortunately just a few – political leaders in Europe. This was argued in most alarming...

The elder President Bush's most memorable foreign-policy blunder took place in Kiev in 1991, then under Communist rule. With the Soviet Union coming apart, the U.S. president - badly advised by the stability-obsessed "realist" Brent Scowcroft - made a speech urging Ukrainians yearning for independence to beware of "suicidal nationalism." His speech, which he now insists meant only "not so fast," was widely taken as advice to remain loyal to Moscow's empire. I dubbed this the "Chicken Kiev" speech. That so infuriated Bush, who mistakenly saw the phrase as imputing cowardice rather than charging colossal misjudgment, that he has not...

Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose task is to play a weak hand with great cunning, tries to make the most of his few assets and is not doing well. His attempt to maximize his leverage from Russia's energy supplies is backfiring; Western shareholders would rather deal with businessmen than with a capricious, law-bending Kremlin. His courtship of the Europeans, France's Jacques Chirac and Germany's Gerhard Schroeder, may eventually make sense, but right now it is jeopardizing his big asset, his personal relationship with President George Bush. Putin's big policy speech in new Delhi Friday, the high point of his official...

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) accused the United States on Friday of pursuing a dictatorial foreign policy and said mounting violence could derail progress toward bringing peace and democracy to Iraq. Putin also criticized the West for setting double-standards on terrorism, pursuing Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan and Iraq while giving refuge to "terrorists" demanding Chechnya's independence from Russia. The Kremlin leader's tough remarks came on a visit to former Cold War ally India, where he and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued a joint call for greater cooperation in stabilizing and rebuilding Iraq....

Russia's Putin Calls U.S. Policy 'Dictatorial' By Douglas Busvine NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) accused the United States on Friday of pursuing a dictatorial foreign policy and said mounting violence could derail progress toward bringing peace and democracy to Iraq (news - web sites). Putin also criticized the West for setting double-standards on terrorism, pursuing Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and Iraq while giving refuge to "terrorists" demanding Chechnya (news - web sites)'s independence from Russia. The Kremlin leader's tough remarks came on a visit to former Cold War ally...

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the United Nations' role in resolving conflicts as he met UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as part of a bid to secure a bigger UN involvement in Iraq. Annan, who flew into Moscow Sunday night for a three-day visit, was expected to focus his talks on the situation in both Iraq, where US-led forces are grappling with increasing violence, and in Kosovo after a recent explosion of unrest there. Russia, which owes much of its waning global influence to its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, is seeking to rally...

The "Primakov Doctrine": Russia's Zero-Sum Game with the United States Ariel Cohen, Ph.D. Senior Policy Analyst1 The Heritage Foundation FYI No. 167 December 15, 1997 Russian Foreign Minister Evgenii Primakov is claiming credit for calming Saddam Hussein during the recent Iraqi crisis. However, Primakov's role in temporarily defusing the crisis should be seen not as an exercise in diplomatic finesse, but as an important sign of Russia's new post-Cold War foreign policy and as part of a larger strategy to challenge America's leadership role in global security.2 The purpose of this strategy is to build a Eurasian counterbalance to the...

FRANCE, Germany and Spain signalled a new alliance yesterday to strengthen the European Union’s political project as a counterbalance to the United States after the re-election of President Bush. The triple axis formed by “old Europe” powers, whose leaders were the most vociferous in opposing the Iraq war, was a rebuff to Tony Blair’s accusation that they were in a “state of denial” over the outcome of America’s presidential election. Jacques Chirac, France’s President, declared that the result left the world “more multi-polar than ever” and said that Europe must react by strengthening its political unity and press ahead with...

BOLSTERED by continued demand from its best customers - India and China - Russian arms sales grew by 20 per cent to $US5.4 billion ($7.47 billion) last year, a post-Soviet record, according to a report issued today by the state weapons trading company Rosoboronexport. President Vladimir Putin has made boosting arms exports a top priority for his government and has called for tighter export controls on weapons-related technologies and military equipment to ensure Russia's niche in international arms markets is not threatened by foreign competitors. Russia exported weapons worth a total of $US4.8 billion ($6.64 billion) in 2002. Russian weapons...

EU adopts tough-guy tactics to rival USJune 21 2003The European Union has embraced a new doctrine of hard-nosed military intervention around the world. Outlining the EU's ambition to match the United States as a full economic and military superpower and facing up to the threat of terrorism, EU leaders meeting in Greece on Thursday ditched their strategy of "soft power". Instead, they favoured a more muscular mix, including pre-emptive strikes against dangerous regimes if necessary. The text, agreed by EU leaders at dinner on Thursday in the resort of Porto Carras, said the EU could no longer rely on static...