|
|
 |
Condoleezza Rice Averts Post-Soviet Threat
// U.S. Senate discussed Washington’s foreign policy plans
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings on the U.S. international affairs budget and discussed the foreign policy’s priorities. Russia and the post-Soviet space were among the most acute issues. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testified before the Committee, warned that “the Soviet Union times are gone forever” and promised to defend the former republics’ sovereignty. Senators unanimously approved the resolution on supporting Georgia’s and Ukraine’s speedy integration into NATO, Republicans and Democrats perfectly agreeing on that issue.
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings on the U.S. international affairs budget and discussed the foreign policy’s priorities. The Committee’s Chairman Senator Joseph Biden (Democrat), in his opening statement, asked those present to commemorate Tom Lantos, the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, who died on Monday. Biden said Lantos was not just a colleague but also a friend. The Committee then proceeded to listening to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who presented the president’s FY 2009 international affairs budget request. Biden immediately underlined that the sum of $39.5 billion requested by the White House “considerably exceeds the last year’s budget”.
However, Biden believes that circumstance should not prevent the Congress from supporting at large the higher expenditures on foreign policy requested by the Bush administration. The only point to which Biden totally disagrees is “the practice of allocating billions of dollars for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan”, as he said. After that, the chief international affairs expert in the Senate mentioned Russia and put it among “long-term challenges, also important for America’s future” as well as other priority issues.
Condoleezza Rice carried on the issue of relations with Russia. She estimated the state of affairs at large and said there are “some positive points” in Washington’s cooperation with Moscow, among which she listed the cooperation on North Korea, Iran, the Middle East, and the struggle against terrorism.
However, Washington makes considerable reservations even for this quite modest list. For instance, the U.S. does not like Moscow’s military-technical cooperation with Tehran. “Certainly, we are concerned about the transfer of conventional arms and air-defense systems. They are telling us that there is nothing illegal about these arms sales, but we respond that not all which is legal is reasonable,” said Rice.
There followed even tougher statements about Russia when Rice spoke about and was answering congressmen’s questions about the part Moscow plays on the post-Soviet territory. By the way, the hearings took place the next day after Russian President Vladimir Putin received his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko in Moscow, making the loud statement that Russia might point its missiles at Ukraine if a NATO base appears in Sevastopol [please see Kommersant as of February 13 for details]. The circumstance heated up the U.S. Senate discussion on Russia. “That useless, or, I’d rather say, reprehensible rhetorics coming from Moscow is unacceptable,” said Rice, toughly expressing the White House’s stand. “The Soviet Union is gone forever, and I hope Russia understands that,” she added. Rice also reminded that Washington faces much work in that direction. “We absolutely adhere to the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine and other former republics which once were part of the Soviet Union,” said Rice.
The discussion was becoming more and more heated. The Committee’s member, influential Republican Congressman Richard Lugar asked Rice why Russian President Putin had been invited to the upcoming NATO summit in Bucharest in April, for his presence might “intimidate” some members of the alliance. “NATO will do what it has to do as an alliance, while Russia does not have veto right,” said Rice explaining why it is unnecessary to be afraid of Putin’s presence in Bucharest. “NATO is a strong and united alliance which is not going to allow the Cold War to return, despite Russia’s ability to intimidate its neighbors,” said Rice.
Meanwhile, Lugar was also interested in Moscow’s recent energy initiatives in its cooperation with Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Serbia, and Bulgaria. Lugar wanted to know how U.S. diplomats will respond to Moscow’s strengthening energy presence on Europe’s market. “I am strongly determined to appoint a special energy coordinator who will focus on Central Asia and the Caspian region. It is the diplomacy’s important part,” replied Rice.
Rice’s statement also touched upon the traditional issue of support for democracy and human rights in the world, planned by the Bush administration. The U.S. wants “to support pivotal democracy and human rights programming in critical target countries such as China, Belarus, Russia, Lebanon, North Korea, Thailand, Venezuela, Somalia, Burma, and Pakistan,” according to the Secretary of State. Moreover, the White House wants to keep financing the Global Human Rights Defenders Fund, which is a “program that enables us to quickly disburse small grants to human rights defenders facing extraordinary needs due to government repression,” said Rice.
“We are requesting $1.745 billion for programs to advance good governance, democracy and human rights in support of the President’s Freedom Agenda,” said Rice, vaguely hinting that bargaining on the Capitol Hill is out of place when it concerns worldwide democracy.
The Committee had no disagreements at large over Washington’s policy priorities on the post-Soviet territory (unlike the traditionally heated debates on Iraq and Afghanistan). Senators unanimously approved the resolution on supporting Georgia’s and Ukraine’s speedy joining the NATO Membership Agenda. “The Senate believes that the U.S. should take leadership in helping Georgia and Ukraine to join the NATO Membership Agenda as soon as possible,” reads the resolution.
Anyway, the resolution is not more than just a political statement, and has no legal force to make it obligatory for the White House (the document needs Senate approval to become a law). However, the discussion in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee proved that Democrats and Republicans agree on how to build the relations with Russia. So, we can hardly hope for a principle change in Washington’s approach to Moscow after the Bush administration leaves.
Sergei Strokan
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 15, 2008
|
|
|
