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U.S. Former Secretaries of State Looked into the Future
// Sharing advice for the next President of the United States
Former Secretaries of State consulted the future U.S. President
Yesterday George Washington University hosted a briefing of five U.S. former Secretaries of State: Henry A. Kissinger, James A. Baker III, Madeleine Albright, Warren Christopher and Colin Powell. The veterans of American diplomacy gathered to give advice to the next President of the United States regarding interaction with Russia, addressing the Iranian nuclear file issue and restoring America’s image in the world arena. RIA Novosti columnist Nargiz Asadova followed the discussion especially for Kommersant.
The meeting was organized by George Washington University and CNN. First the former State Secretaries were asked to figure out a recipe for the future American President to help him restore the U.S. image damaged by the war in Iraq and the scandals over the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons. “American Embassies (even in London) look like fortresses. In the countries regarded as our allies – Egypt, India, and Pakistan – only 22% of the population treat the U.S. positively. 70% of Turks consider the U.S. an unfriendly state,” moderator Christiane Amanpour said with indignation. Answering her question about restoring respect for America in the world, Madeleine Albright, James A. Baker III and Warren Christopher replied almost simultaneously, “Close the Guantanamo.”
In the view of Ms James A. Baker III, the next U.S. President will have to perform a trick: on the one hand, he will have to demonstrate the world the U.S. confidence showing at the same time “that we are able to address problems ourselves”. For his part, Colin Powell opines it’s high time America admitted the obvious: in recent years the East’s economies have bolstered, thus their political impact in the world has boosted. According to Mr Powell, there is nothing to fear, and these countries need to be engaged in addressing such matters as the war in Iraq, the Middle-East conflict settlement, as well as the Iranian and South Korean nuclear programs.
“We should not seek popularity in the world,” Madeleine Albright took over the initiative. “I don’t care whether they love America or not. The key thing is they should respect us and want to work with us.”
The war in Georgia was the second topic during the ninety-minute briefing. The monitors behind the U.S. diplomacy veterans’ backs showed Russian tanks moving along Georgian roads. “This is the new image of the cold war,” a voice-over said. “Russia united under Putin’s authoritarian control. The new Russia wants to change the rules of the game.”
“How should the next U.S. President react to this Russia?” the moderators asked.
“First you need to determine what you imply under “this Russia”,” Henry A. Kissinger retorted. “You also need to find out whether “this Russia” is trying to override international rules.”
Then Mr Kissinger, who, together with Russia’s Yevgeny Primakov, chairs the Kissinger-Primakov Strategic Vision Group, stressed that the U.S. is interested in cooperation with Russia in the following spheres: the Iranian issue, the situation in Pakistan, nuclear weapons non-proliferation and the energy sector.
“The next President should find opportunities to cooperate with Russia. We should not base on the footage you showed us only. Russia is no democratic state, but it will never be the same again either (as it was in the Soviet times – Kommersant),” Dr Kissinger concluded.
The five former State secretaries acknowledged that it was Georgia that unleashed the recent conflict in the Caucasus, but Russia’s reaction was too harsh.
“The Russians acted brutally and foolishly, to my mind. However, Russia’s reaction was quite predictable. And now Russia appears the offender,” Colin Powell said. “Russia may not determine whether Ukraine and Georgia will join NATO or not. But we must anticipate Russia’s reaction. Russia does have its interests, and it thinks we have been interfering in is backyard for a couple of years provided NATO’s expansion and deploying the American AMD system in Poland and the Czech Republic.”
“As to me, we should advance with admitting Georgia and Ukraine to NATO,” Madeleine Albright said. “NATO’s expansion is not aimed against Russia. It’s a new NATO. The former Soviet republics have the right to determine what organization to join.”
“What way should the U.S. behave in case Georgia and Ukraine are admitted to NATO and Russia expresses aggression once again?” Frank Sesno, the other CNN moderator, asked.
“According to NATO’s fifth article, if at least one NATO member is attacked, the entire alliance is thought attacked,” Colin Powell replied noting that in this case it is not necessary to send troops – you’d better use economic and political levers. On the whole, in his view, you should take account of the fact that Russia is a country “that lost its pride, then regained it, and the government there is extremely popular with the people”.
The five former Secretaries of State were unanimous over Iran regardless of their party membership.
“What should we fear?” Colin Powell asked. “I had negotiated with them up to 2003, and then everything stopped. We should start talks with Iranians at the low level. And gradually, the level will be increased.”
“I actually have preferred doing it at the secretary of state level so that we – we know we're dealing with authentic,” Henry Kissinger continued. “We should make sure our counterparts know what results we expect. It’s not about the Iranian nuclear program only. We need to know how much time we have.”
“We should engage in a dialogue with the states we have problems with,” Madeleine Albright summed it up.
Nargiz Asadova
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 17, 2008
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