John Edward's: Soviet Union US relations headed in wrong direction

http://www.cfr.org/publication/9997/


March 5, 2006--Fifteen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, “U.S.-Russia relations are clearly headed in the wrong direction,” finds an Independent Task Force on U.S. policy toward Russia sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. “Contention is crowding out consensus. The very idea of a ‘strategic partnership’ no longer seems realistic,” it concludes.

The bipartisan Task Force was chaired by former Senator John Edwards and former Congressman and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp and directed by Council Senior Fellow Stephen Sestanovich.

The Task Force notes significant recent economic progress in Russia. “Between 2000 and 2004 the number of Russians living below the government’s poverty line dropped from forty-two million to twenty-six million. The national unemployment rate--over 10 percent in 2000--is now about 7 percent... a middle class appears to be emerging.”

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“U.S.-Russia cooperation can help the United States handle some of the most difficult issues we face,” said Edwards. “Yet regrettably, cooperation is becoming the exception, not the norm. This report is a wake-up call that we need to get U.S.-Russia relations back on track to meet the challenges that face both of our countries.”

snip...

The areas of most concern include:

De-democratization: The report finds that Russian political institutions are becoming “corrupt and brittle.” As a result, “Russia’s capacity to address security concerns of fundamental importance to the United States and its allies is reduced. And many kinds of cooperation--from securing nuclear materials to intelligence sharing--are undermined.”

Energy supplies: “Russia has used energy exports as a foreign policy weapon: intervening in Ukraine’s politics, putting pressure on its foreign policy choices, and curtailing supplies to the rest of Europe. The reassertion of government control over the Russian energy sector increases the risk this weapon will be used again.”

The war on terror: The Task Force finds “a seeming Russian effort to curtail U.S. and NATO military access to Central Asian bases,” a sign that Russia is retreating from the idea that “success in Afghanistan serves a common interest.”

Russia hosting the G8: “A country that has in the space of a single year supported massive fraud in the elections of its largest European neighbor and then punished it for voting wrong by turning off its gas supply has to be at least on informal probation at a meeting of the world’s industrial democracies.”

Please pass the chips and dip, I'm hungry.

LIVE LIFE, PEOPLE. We can't do anything about this - we don't have the power and even those who band in groups of 250,000 have changed nothing.

Or convince me there is a point where people do listen.

It's up to our leaders. And if they won't do anything, well then nothing can be done. We vote them in to do the work. So vote the twerps out.

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want a voice, not just a seat at the table.

Remember at the first meeting between our Fearless Leader and Putin regarding arms control (I think) and bush wanted a handshake deal and Putin wanted an official agreement? bush said something to the effect of, "They want a piece of paper? Give me a piece of paper and I'll put my name on it."

Oh, about those last four points- substitute a few names and that could be referring to the USA.

Good find, Flabbergasted.

http://english.pravda.ru/world/americas/76970-0/

Another Cold War to break out between Russia and USA when Putin and Bush leave....

The US Council on Foreign Relations has recently published a special report on Russia. The report was prepared under the direction of the former member of the House of Representatives, Rep. Jack Kemp (70) and former Dem. Senator John Edwards (52).

snip...

Making a statement for NBC, Kemp and Edwards said that the Group of Eight was not an eternal organization. “It can easily turn to the Group of Seven again,” they said. Such a turn of events is possible if Russia refuses to cooperate with the West in the solution of such problems as the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea, the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the anti-terrorist struggle. They recommended the G7 foreign ministers should hold a special meeting before the G8 summit in St.Petersburg (slated for July) and discuss their attitude and intentions towards Russia . Edwards, however, believes that it would be better to keep Russia a G8 member, “at least for the time being.”

snip....

“The report stands between the radical point of view which demands Russia 's immediate expulsion from the G8 and a softer stance, according to which one could let the relations with Russia take their course.

snip...

“Many of those who worked on the report may come to power in the USA in two years and start fulfilling their goals,” said he.(Do we really trust Edwards in office?) “The US establishment has probably realized that the US politics towards Russia is collapsing and needs to be revised fundamentally. “There are too many problems left between the two countries."

Like too many intransigent dinosaurs in DC and the Kremlin.

Who the hell is writing hese lines for Edwards? Do they think the Russians cannot read?