04.04.2008 Roumania, Bucharest. NATO summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin (second on the left) and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (second on the right) during the session of the Russia-NATO Council.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Atlantic Council Rattles Awards
// Laureates of Euroatlantism spoke on Russia
The Atlantic Council of the United States, whose mission is stepping up the cooperation between the USA and its NATO allies, held its annual Awards Gala in Washington, honoring international politicians, diplomats and public figures, who contributed much to the development of the Alliance. The participants of the ceremony unanimously agreed that NATO should work out a common policy towards Russia, which, according to them, poses an energy threat, rather than a military one, to the West. Kommersant special correspondent Dmitry Sidorov reports from Washington.
The Atlantic Council of the United States was set up 1961 and consolidated those groups within the country that supported NATO. The basic mission of the Council is stepping up the cooperation between the USA and the EU within the Alliance. This year such celebrated people as Britain’s former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen, and News Corporation Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch became the “laureates of Euroatlantism”.
Spain’s former President of the Government José María Aznar, Poland’s former President Aleksander Kwasniewski, former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Colin Powell were among the guests of the ceremony, held at the Ritz Carlton luxurious hotel, Washington D.C., Monday night. According to the information of Kommersant, it took the Atlantic Council about half a year to gather all the celebrities at the venue, with admission fees, which the participants of the Dinner at the Ritz Carlton hotel had to pay to see and listen to them, ranging from $1,000 to $45,000.
Each laureate delivered an opening address at the press-conference, which were the highlights of their speeches at the Dinner. Tony Blair was the first to take the floor. His key idea came down to the necessity for the North Atlantic Alliance, going through a challenging period of its 60-year history, to make a shift combining “hard and soft power.” Later, speaking at the Dinner, Mr Blair explained that this scenario implied that “the USA should use persuasion, and Europe should be more aggressive.”
Admiral Mullen agreed with Mr Blair, adding that “conducting the policy of hard and soft power is a must” for the Alliance to stay afloat. This said, he called on the member-states to take joint actions, not uncoordinated ones. Michael Mullen also expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the April NATO Summit in Bucharest, where it was decided to deploy extra troops to combat terrorism in Afghanistan.
Another laureate of the Atlantic Council, Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the pro-Republican Fox channel who has recently acquired the Wall Street Journal, didn’t share the positive estimate of Admiral Mullen. “We’re fooling ourselves believing that it’s Britain, not the United States, whose burden in Afghanistan is the heaviest,” the media tycoon claimed at the press-conference. During his speech at the Dinner he was even more critical of the Europeans, “We must face up to a painful truth: Europe no longer has either the political will or social culture to support military engagements in defense of itself and its allies.” Expressing his view on the weakness the Alliance, Rupert Murdoch suggested that it be reformed, admitting as many states as possible.
The scenario proposed by Rupert Murdoch was mainly directed against the so-called old NATO members, France, Spain and Italy in particular, who rarely show much enthusiasm for U.S. initiatives.
At the same time Mr Murdoch preferred to skip the Kommersant question whether he regarded Russia’s policy a threat, with the state managing to use energy to alienate some of the NATO member-states from the USA. Britain’s former Prime Minister Blair replied for the tycoon who kept silent. According to Mr Blair, “the right relations with Russia are as important as the retention of our (energy – Kommersant) independence.” “We need Russia to address problems, but all the same we should know which direction it is following,” Mr Blair added.
After the press-conference Mr Murdoch answered the question of Kommersant. “I don’t think that Russia poses a military threat to the Alliance. But the way it uses energy is really alarming,” the tycoon stated.
When asked by a reporter with London’s Times, what “the hard policy” meant, Mr Blair said, “We must be prepared to use military force.” In his address at the Dinner, he stressed that “the ideology of fanatics now has a nation, Iran, that seeks to put itself at the head of extreme Islam.” “They need to know what we say, we mean and, if necessary, will do,” Tony Blair claimed.
Dmitry Sidorov
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 23, 2008
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