Masthead graphic based on a painting by Gudrun Thriemer.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Notes: MK Bhadrakumar, "The Rise and rise of Russia," Asia Times online, July 20, 2006.

"Putin indirectly drew attention to the US isolation when he said Russia's advantage was that it did not close its doors to any parties to the Middle East conflict. Putin asserted that Russia's 'regular contacts' with Hamas and Hezbollah actually helped to work on the G8's Middle East resolution. If this in itself wasn't an extraordinary statement, Putin rubbed it in: 'Iran, of course, is an influential country in the region and its interests must be respected so as to prompt it to use its influence to change the situation [in Lebanon] for the better.'

"Putin also said Israeli military operations were pursuing a larger agenda than obtaining the release of the kidnapped soldiers and that Israel's confidence in its 'military capabilities' would prove to be misplaced. The most significant point made by Putin was that the deployment of any international force in Lebanon must be on the basis of a mandate from the UN Security Council and that Russia would participate in any such operations, but 'we first need to get the agreement from all the sides involved in the conflict.'"


"All in all, the G8 revealed the erosion in the United States' ability to bend the world to its will. The US exposed itself as having very little leverage in the Middle East situation....It [also] failed to get the G8 to fall in line on energy security or the Iran nuclear issue."

[All this while WTO talks were collapsing. -jlt]Recommend this Post



Sphere: Related Content

0 comments: