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1) Russian, French Presidents Say Majority Of Security Council Members Are Opposed To War 2) Russian Paliamentary Speaker Leaves For Baghdad 3) Russia Hardens Stand Against Iraq War http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/di/Qiraq-russia-france.RUfH_DM9.html Majority at UN Security Council against war on Iraq: Putin, Chirac MOSCOW, March 9 (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Jacques Chirac, two resolute opponents of a UN resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq, voiced late Sunday their conviction the measure doesn't have the necessary support in the Security Council. In a telephone conversation the two leaders "noted with satisfaction that a majority of UN Security Council members support the conclusion of (chief UN weapons inspector) Hans Blix ... that there are no grounds for discontinuing inspections in Iraq," Alexei Gromov told the Russian news agencies. Putin and Chirac reiterated their belief that the crisis around Iraq should be solved peacefully through diplomatic means, Gromov added. US Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted Sunday that the success of a new US-British-Spanish resolution that could open the way for war was unclear, but said he hoped it would get the required number of votes to be passed at the UN Security Council. However, he repeated that the United states was prepared to use force against Baghdad without a positive Security Council vote if necessary. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov said Saturday that Moscow would block the draft resolution setting Iraq a March 17 deadline to disarm or face military action, "doing everything it can not to let the resolution pass in the UN Security Council. Russia, France and China, who hold a veto right in the Security Council, and Germany, are opposed to this new draft resolution. However, Time Magazine quoted Sunday an unnamed White House official as saying that Putin had assured US President George W. Bush that Moscow would not veto the resolution. ------------------------------------------------------- http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bm/Qiraq-russia-duma.RFLi_DM9.html Russian parliamentary speaker leaves for Baghdad MOSCOW, March 9 (AFP) - Gennady Seleznyov, speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, left Sunday for Baghdad saying he would meet President Saddam Hussein for talks on the current crisis, Interfax news agency reported. "We will certainly discuss the very tense situation concerning Iraq in view of the fact that the United States could launch strikes against the country any day," the Duma speaker was quoted as saying. Seleznyov said the visit was organized at the initiative of the speaker of the Iraqi assembly. Seleznyov was formerly a member of the communist party, one Russia's political groups most ardently defending Saddam. He was expelled from the party last May for refusing to obey party orders to quit his post. Meanwhile President Vladimir Putin's government gave notice Saturday that it would do everything it could to block a UN Security Council resolution that might trigger the use of force. Russian opposition to US military action in Iraq has noticeably hardened since last Wednesday when Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov signed a joint declaration with his French and German counterparts in Paris stating firmly that they would "not allow a draft resolution authorising the recourse to force to pass." A visit to Iraq by a Russian parliamentary delegation planned for January was cancelled. Russian deputies later took part in a private visit by Russian political figures to the Iraqi capital in February. Among them was Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov who had a three-hour meeting with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. He was in the Iraqi capital as a member of a 60-member delegation of Russian lawmakers, scientists and other officials who flew to Baghdad to try and negotiate a peaceful resolution to the standoff with Washington. ------------------------------------------------------- http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/cg/Qiraq-russia-us.RYwW_DM9.html Russia's strong line over Iraq confounds predictions Bernard Besserglik MOSCOW, March 9 (AFP) - Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov's warning that the United Nations would react "appropriately" to unilateral US action against Iraq provides the clearest indication yet that Russia is prepared to risk US wrath rather than endorse immediate strikes against Baghdad. Confounding confident predictions by US and Russian analysts that Moscow would fall into line behind US military action to disarm Iraq, the Kremlin gave notice Saturday that it would do "everything it can" to block a UN Security Council resolution that might trigger the use of force. Going further, Ivanov warned that "if the United States unilaterally launched a military operation against Iraq without a UN mandate, this would be a violation of the UN charter." In such a case, he said, the Security Council would have to "take appropriate decisions." Russian opposition to US military action in Iraq has noticeably hardened since Wednesday when Ivanov signed a joint declaration with his French and German counterparts in Paris stating firmly that they would "not allow a draft resolution authorising the recourse to force to pass." Although like France Russia has steered clear of saying explicitly that it would use its power of veto, the Kremlin's choice of words amounts to much the same thing, and on essential points Moscow's policy is now little different from that of Paris. President Vladimir Putin, who has made a point of enjoying cordial relations with his US counterpart George W. Bush and his chief ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has opted for a low profile on Iraq, unlike French President Jacques Chirac who has aligned himself personally with his country's opposition to the use of force in Iraq. In his most recent comment Putin said he found "understandable" a decision by Turkey to refuse to allow US troops to use its bases for attacks on northern Iraq, but refrained from expressing outright approval. Hitherto Putin has been described as treading a fine line between safeguarding traditional Russian interests in Iraq and keeping Washington sweet in accordance with his post-September 11 pro-Western stance. But recent Russian statements on the Iraqi issue leave no doubt that the Kremlin has come down firmly on the side of what US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has referred to derisively as "old Europe" -- France and Germany. Most analysts have based their predictions of Moscow's course of action on the view that the Kremlin would decide its policy on a cold calculation of profit and loss, notably regarding its stake in Iraqi oil fields and Baghdad's eight billion dollar debt to Russia. At least one, however, Eric Kraus of the Sovlink investment bank, believed that Putin's policy on Iraq was "deeply principled," noting that "the cynical response would be to sell out, negotiating a side deal with Washington." In view of the "huge bribe" offered to Turkey, Kraus said in reference to a US grant of six billion dollars to Ankara allied to commercial loans of up to 30 billion dollars, "Russia, as a full member of the Security Council, could undoubtedly do at least as well." Other analysts have noted that a principled stance by Putin could coincide with self-interest. Many Russians, particularly inside the conservative military-diplomatic establishment, believe that Moscow has derived few tangible benefits from earlier concessions it has made to US foreign policy, notably its reluctant acquiescence in the scrapping of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty or the deployment of US troops in former Soviet republics in central Asia. Resisting Washington over Iraq appeases this crucial constituency as well as bringing Putin into line with public opinion which is massively opposed to a US-led war in Iraq. It is noted too that Germany is by far Russia's biggest trading partner. But while the present Iraq policy will help with establishing closer ties with Western Europe, Russian spokesmen have been at pains to stress that Moscow's criticism of US actions over Iraq do not mean it regards itself as anything less than a friend. "Our policy is not alien to the United States. We are partners, and we are warning our partners against making mistakes," Ivanov said in a BBC interview last week. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^================================================================
