Re: Closer US Russian ties?

[Chris Doss <lookoverhere1@xxxxxxxxx>]

I think it's a bit strange. It is not true to say that
Russia has not supported the "war on terror," unless
you see Iraq as being a part of it, which Russia does
not. Moscow's position is that the Iraq war was a
stupid mistake that doesn't have anything to do with
fighting terrorism, and I find it unlikely that that
will change, especially since Moscow values its
relationship with the Arab world highly, especially
its newfound (and historically unprecedented)
relationship with Riyahd (Fahd's visit to Moscow in
2003 was the first by a Saudi leader since 1932!).

Moreover, it is untrue to say that the Kremlin sees a
US presence in Central Asia as a threat. If you can
believe foreign minister Ivanov, the only reason those
bases are there is because Putin personally persuaded
the governments of Uzbekistan, etc., to allow US
troops in. Russia's belief is that the US presence
will, in the short term, help stabilize the region
(which Russia is incapable of doing on its own) and,
in the long term, will be forced out. There is
speculation in the Russian military press that those
bases will become joint US-Russian bases (I can send
an article on this if you want). The Russian and US
positions in Central Asia and Afghanistan are more or
less identical (what was the only government in the
world to recognize Chechnya? The Taliban.). Remember
that the Northern Alliance was a Russian proxy army,
and that the intelligence help Moscow gave Washington
during the Afghan operation was phenomenal.

That said, Russia is certain to increase
anti-terrorist cooperation, as it understands the
term, with everyone it can. Just in the past couple of
days, Russia reached agreements on anti-terrorist
cooperation with both Saudi Arabia and Israel.

--- ken hanly <khanly@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> Wonder what Chris Doss thinks of this?
>
> Cheers, Ken Hanly
>




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