Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: maceng2 who wrote (50429)	10/10/2002 4:48:37 AM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Blair on mission to heal rift with Russia timesonline.co.uk By Tom Baldwin, Carl Mortished, Robin Shepherd and Richard Beeston Kremlin alarm grows over Iraq attack TONY BLAIR flies to Moscow for crucial talks with President Putin tonight after London and Moscow staked out starkly conflicting positions yesterday on war against Iraq. The Prime Minister gave his clearest signal yet that Britain would back America in destroying Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, with or without the support of Russia and other members of the United Nations Security Council. But even as Mr Blair was speaking, the Kremlin underlined its deep unease over the prospect of military action in a country where Russia has huge economic interests. A senior adviser to Mr Putin dismissed Britain’s recent dossier on Saddam’s weapons as a publicity stunt and said there was no evidence that Iraq was a threat to world security. Mr Blair will dine with Mr Putin and spend the night at the President’s country dacha at Zavidovo, 80 miles north of Moscow. But their close friendship, forged during no fewer than six bilateral meetings over the past 30 months, will be tested as never before by their differences. Mr Blair has repeatedly emphasised that he wants to work through the UN, not least because unilateral action could trigger an international crisis and split the Labour Party. But he told the BBC World Service: “That (the UN route) is our preference but nobody should be in any doubt that if it isn’t dealt with in that way, it has got to be dealt with differently.” He added that while war was not inevitable, Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction would be removed “one way or another”. Mr Blair said the US and Britain regarded Russia “very much as our partner in this issue”, adding that there was agreement on the need to enforce existing UN resolutions on Iraq “but we need to discuss the right way to see them implemented”. Russia, however, has a veto in the UN Security Council and Sergei Yastrzhembsky, Mr Putin’s special assistant, yesterday delivered a trenchant and remarkably frank critique of US policy towards Iraq. “So far the international community has seen no evidence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. That includes the well-known document published in London,” he told journalists in Moscow. “You could call it PR support for possible strikes.” Russians had little sympathy for Saddam, Mr Yastrzhembsky said, but “the UN Charter does not say the UN can change regimes”. He expressed concern about Russia’s economic interests in a post-Saddam Iraq. “Russian oil companies are making good money and many Russian oil companies have oilfields they want to develop,” he said, but Saddam’s removal would mean the end of the UN sanctions against Iraq, the unrestricted return of Iraqi oil to the world market and plummeting prices. That could mean a “very black” outcome for Russia, which is owed $8 billion to $10 billion by Iraq. “What if the oil price goes down to $10 per barrel?” he asked. “That would result in heavy consequences for the Russian economy.” Mr Yastrzhembsky suggested that economic considerations were behind America’s threat of action. Russia needed to know that the goal was not to destabilise oil markets. Despite their tone, Mr Yastrzhembsky’s comments gave British and American diplomats hope that a deal can still be struck. A senior British diplomat said: “There are lobbies and vested interests in Russia that must be overcome but utlimately Russia can be brought round.” The official, who was travelling with Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, through the Middle East, added: “It is certainly not going to be as hard as persuading Russia to come on side in Kosovo.” Bishops of the Church of England said yesterday that war against Iraq without further UN backing was unacceptable. They recognised that military action can sometimes be justified “as a last resort” to enforce compliance with UN resolutions but added that military action would fall outside the Christian criteria for a “just war”.