Reformedville

The 2007 G8 Heiligendamm Summit  was held June 6-8, 2007 in Heiligendamm, Germany with the media storming about American’s global warming policies and how George Bush had reversed his positions irritating many members of the worlds richest and most powerful nations.

However, the real story of this years G8 Summit was fogged by the greenhouse gases and mostly missed by the mainstream media.  The real story right now is Russia and the United States, so reminiscent of the Cuban Missle Crisis it is frightening. The fact that the media is not giving it the attention they give to Brittany Spears inability to deal with life is inexcusable.

In an interview prior to the Summit Putin was asked the following questions:

QUESTION: One of the biggest problems between Moscow and Washington is the American plan to install a missile shield in Eastern Europe. Russia has reacted very sharply to the plan. But the White House insists on having the weapons system, which in turn gives rise to even greater displeasure on Russia’s part. What does Russia achieve with such rigid opposition to the system? Do you hope that Washington will abandon its plan, or do you have other goals in mind?

Putin: We have not simply stated that we are prepared to fulfil this treaty — we have in reality implemented it. We have brought all our heavy weapons beyond the Urals and we have reduced our military forces by 300,000 and taken some other steps. But what do we have in return? We see that Eastern Europe is being filled with new equipment, with new military, in Romania and Bulgaria as well as radar in the Czech Republic and missile systems in Poland……

QUESTION: But does the system truly pose a danger for Russia?

Putin: Speaking about the missile defence system — of course this is not simply a missile defense system per se as it is — when it is created and installed, it is going to work in an automatic mode, in conjunction with all the nuclear potential of the United States. For the first time in the history of the European continent there will be elements of the nuclear potential of the United States, which fully changes the whole configuration of international security.

How is it being explained? That it is necessary to defend oneself against the Iranian missiles. But there are no such missiles. Iran does not have missiles with a range of 5,000 to 8,000 kilometres. We are told that the anti-missile defense system is being installed for protection against something which doesn’t exist. So we believe there are no reasons and no grounds for establishing the anti-missile system in Eastern Europe … and of course we will have to respond to that.

QUESTION: What exactly do you want?

Putin: What are we striving for? We want to be heard. We do not exclude (the possibility) that our American partners might rethink their decision. I think that everyone possesses common sense. But if this does not happen, we cannot be held responsible for our reciprocal steps. Because it is not us who have initiated the arms race that is pending in Europe. We want everyone to understand that we will not assume any responsibility for that. Nor will we allow ourselves to be blamed if we now improve our strategic nuclear weapons system. This system of missile defense creates the illusion of being protected, but it increases the possibility of unleashing a nuclear conflict. So there is a violation, an imbalance of strategic equilibrium in the world, and in order to provide for the balance we will need to establish systems that would be able to penetrate the missile defense system.

While the rest of the world is focused on greenhouse gases, we are busy pushing nuclear nations into a position like they did in Cuba and placing Putin in the position JFK was in. We narrowly avoided a nuclear war then, but we have our commander in chief seeing if he can return the favor.

Then the next question is begged:

Would you want to deploy similar Russian systems in Cuba or Venezuela?

Putin: We are not going to do that. We recently dismantled our own base in Cuba. And Americans are now trying to deploy their missile bases in Romania and Bulgaria in Europe. We dismantled that base because our post-Soviet policies changed their nature — because the nature of our society changed. We don’t want a confrontation, we want co-operation. We do not need any bases in somebody’s back yard. We are not planning to do anything of the kind. Those are purely political decisions.

QUESTION: How do you respond to critics who want to see Russia excluded from the G-8 for violations of civil and human rights?

Putin: This is another piece of nonsense. Our economic importance is growing and will continue to grow. We have the world’s third-largest foreign currency and gold reserves. We became the world’s No. 1 oil producer last year and have long been the top producer of natural gas. We are a nuclear power and a member of the Security Council of the United Nations. One cannot solve the problems of humanity by converting the G-8 into an exclusive club. On the contrary, some consideration has been given to enlarging (the G-8) to include, for example, China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. (He also notes later in the interview of the hypocrisy of civil and human rights violations in comparison to the United States and Europe)

I am not naive enough to believe every interview I read in total, and that is a two edged sword. Our problems with Russia are stemming from our actions in their area of the world and our placing missles on their back door step. We have to start facing the stark reality that the majority of the world does not trust us. The stakes at this poker game are too high . Pray that we are not provoking a world war with our antics in eastern europe needlessly. While all the world is worrying about greenhouse gases, that may be the least of their troubles.

Filed under: Government, Media