Gość: Zbyszek
IP: *.dpg.devry.edu
01.12.01, 00:07
www.russianobserver.com/stories/2001/11/29/1007026841/1007136210.html
CIS: Economic Assistance in Exchange for Political
SolidarityCIS summit adopts statement supporting
Russia?s stand in dispute with the USA on Afghanistan
By: Nikolai Ulyanov30.11.2001, 19:04
Full story: "CIS Leaders Meet in Moscow for Anniversary
Summit"[printable version]
More specific decisions usually emerge from bilateral
presidential meetings that take place within summit
frameworks. Nonetheless, at the given summit the
Kremlin managed to talk the CIS leaders into passing a
statement on Afghanistan that is very important for
Russia.The main task facing the CIS - to avoid the
"Yugoslav scenario" in the disintegration of the USSR -
has been fulfilled, in the opinion of President
Vladimir Putin. And all the leaders of the former
Soviet republics agree with the Russian head of
state.As concerns the prospects of integration in the
Commonwealth environment, then one has to admit that
they remain quite vague. At a press conference in the
Kremlin today, Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko
quite justly remarked: "everyone understands the
prospects of the development of the CIS in his own
way."Many propose adopting the European Union as a
model, he remarked. But those who make such proposals
are personally against "moving towards the EU since
this would be going backwards," Lukashenko pointed out.
The Belarus president considers that while developing
the CIS, it is necessary to draw upon the experience of
the former Soviet Union with "its high degree of
integration" that was based on a common economy.
Moreover, Lukashenko emphasized that he was not calling
for returning to the USSR, although he does regret its
demise.From the point of view of Uzbek President Islam
Karimov , the rate of integration within the CIS
framework depends on the economic possibilities of one
country - Russia. He said that he was very happy that
Russia today is not what it was in 1991."It is with a
feeling of satisfaction that we see how the Russian
ruble is becoming "stronger,' and we would be very
happy if the ruble became a means of payment within the
CIS framework," the Uzbek leader pointed out. "The
ruble is a reliable base for promoting trade turnover,
and if the ruble and the economy of Russia becomes
stronger, then all of us stand to benefit from this,"
Karimov emphasized.Actually, this quite simple formula
is the key for both the present and future existence of
the CIS. The Commonwealth members, in spite of their
different rates of economic growth, are still very
interested in obtaining all kinds of economic
preferences from Russia - from buying Russian oil, gas
and electricity at lower than market prices to
minimizing customs tariffs and other duties on the
goods that these countries sell to Russia.And as long
as this dependence is preserved, Russia is in a
position to "politically" control the environment of
the former USSR. Taking this reality into account, it
is not in the least surprising at that such summits,
the CIS leaders make statements and adopt decisions
that are, by and large, of a political nature, and in
the main, those that Russia needs at the present
moment.To be sure, such statements and decisions also
include a military component since the CIS, in spite of
the difference of interests of its members, is a
military-political alliance. Such decisions are related
to the now successfully functioning Unified CIS Air
Defense system, the Antiterrorist Center and the Rapid
Deployment Force.In this respect, the present 10th
Jubilee CIS summit was no exception. Russia has managed
to persuade the CIS leaders to adopt a political
document that it considers very important for itself -
the statement on the situation in Afghanistan. First of
all, it is important because in it the leaders of the
CIS members, many of which play quite an independent
and serious role in the antiterrorist operation in
Afghanistan, have reaffirmed their agreement with two
principles concerning the post-Taliban structure of
that country and the international fight against
terrorism in general - principles that Russia insists
upon in its discussions with the USA. First, the fight
of the world community against global terrorism must be
conducted in accordance with international law, and
first and foremost, the UN Charter. This paragraph in
the statement becomes understandable in the light of
rumors that the USA, after the operation in Afghanistan
is over, intends to resort to armed aggression against
Iraq and several other countries, using antiterrorist
slogans as a pretext. If Russia is not especially
interested in the fate of Somalia and other countries
on America's "blacklist" then another war against Iraq
will be extremely disadvantageous for Russia from the
economic point of view. This then is the reason for the
inclusion of such a paragraph in the statement adopted
by the CIS leaders.The second important principle
stipulates that no Taliban elements, no matter how
"moderate" they may be, must be allowed to participate
in the further management of Afghanistan. Russia has
been insisting on this principle right from the very
beginning of the antiterrorist operation in
Afghanistan, whereas America's stand on this issue has
been vacillating all the time due to pressure from
Pakistan.Proceeding from the main principle underlying
the very existence of the CIS, at the given summit
Russia had to come out with some hopeful statement for
promoting cooperation in the economic sphere. And
Vladimir Putin did come out with such a statement.He
spoke out in favor of creating a free trade zone in the
CIS environment as soon as this was possible, but he
emphasized that Russia, in this case, intended to
uphold its national interests.Putin pointed out that an
intensive dialogue was underway to create a free trade
zone in the Commonwealth, and that practically all the
questions on this matter had already been thrashed
out.However, this problem had not yet been finalized
with Tajikistan, Ukraine and Belarus, the Russian
president remarked. Nonetheless, he did express hope
that all these questions would soon be resolved.
Misza, czy nie mowilem ze Putin to jeden z
najzdolniejszych agentow KGB (obecnie FSB)?
