The Guardian (UK)
4 October 2001
Leader/Editorial
Russia's rehabilitation
Vladimir Putin is having a good war
For Vladimir Putin, crisis brings catharsis. The Russian leader was very
much
an unknown quantity when he succeeded Boris Yeltsin as president last
year.
Western perceptions were unfavourably influenced by his murky KGB past
and
his ruthless suppression of Chechen separatists - a campaign that
nevertheless won him considerable popularity at home. Mr Putin has been
critical of Nato's role in the Balkans and US policy on Iraq. The advent
of
the Bush administration brought new strains, over Washington's plans for
national missile defence, the eastward expansion of Nato, and most
recently,
over Russian arms sales to Iran. When he concluded a friendship treaty
with
China this year, students of the strategic balance began to suspect an
anti-western conspiracy.
In the period following the September 11 attacks, Russian policy appears
to
have turned on its head. Mr Putin's offer of condolences and help was
swift
and sincere. Then came his vital decision to accept US use of bases in
Russia's central Asian backyard in pursuit of the "war on terrorism".
The
Russian leader followed this up yesterday with a pledge to pursue closer
political and security cooperation with the EU; and with a hint that
Russia
could relax its opposition to Nato expansion in return for greater
involvement in the alliance. In the space of three weeks, Mr Putin has
apparently been transformed from recalcitrant, potential enemy into good
friend and key ally.
This conversion is largely illusory. Mr Putin's basic position has not
changed. Since taking office, his primary ambition has been to restore
to
Russia a leading role in world affairs. His revival of ties with Arab
countries and his support of old friends such as Serbia is one means to
this
end. Another is his call, repeated in different ways on many occasions
prior
to September 11, for a reordering of the strategic and security
relationships
between Russia, Europe, and the US. Mr Putin knows he cannot block
Nato's
advance; but he can reasonably hope to change Nato itself into a more
"political" organisation which Russia might one day join. He knows he
cannot
ultimately halt NMD. So he proposes a broader cooperation to counter
common
threats, including biological and chemical weapons as well as rogue
missiles.
Long before Tony Blair let loose in Brighton, Mr Putin urged joint
action to
tackle international problems such as drugs and climate change as well
as
terrorism.
Mr Putin is no longer an unknown quantity. In significant ways, his
world
outlook resembles that of Mr Blair, with whom he has formed a personal
friendship and who he is due to meet again in Moscow this week.
Difficult and
divisive issues remain. One is that Mr Putin should not repeat the
mistakes
of the past in Chechnya; his way of waging war on terrorism is certainly
no
paradigm. But the bigger question is whether an indebted Bush
administration
will finally stop treating a weaker but still potent Russia with a
mixture of
disdain and distrust and accept the logic of its own recent assertion:
that
in a permanently altered world, new, collective ways of thinking and
acting
are essential.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.antic.org/
