From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 7/19/2006 2:48 AM
Putin's Summit Showcases Emerging Russia
Publication time: Today at 11:57 Djokhar time

For President Vladimir Putin, the Group of Eight summit was a chance to showcase the new Russia: more affluent and influential than any time since the Soviet collapse, and less likely to take a back seat to the United States. In hosting leaders from the world's richest democracies, the Russian leader risked scrutiny of the Kremlin's growing authoritarianism and heavy-handed foreign policies.

But thanks in part to a Mideast crisis that helped cast him as a statesman and distracted attention from domestic problems, Putin appears to have avoided embarrassment while flexing Russia's muscle in global affairs.

In the background was an emerging reality in which Russia's fellow G-8 members are increasingly dependent on Russia's vast supply of ever-more-expensive oil and gas - perhaps sapping the will to pressure Putin on the erosion of Russian democracy and media freedom.

"This is one of the lasting impressions of the summit - that of Putin and Russia trying to insert themselves, or in fact being central to the pressing issues of the day," said Sarah Mendelson, a scholar at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Yet the summit was also the latest field for wrangling between the United States and Russia, whose relationship has chilled markedly in recent months.

The clearest indication of this was the failure to reach an agreement between U.S. and Russian negotiators over Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization.

"No agreement was reached precisely due to ... political, not economic reasons," Sergei Rogov, of the Russian government-funded USA and Canada Institute, was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Swirling around the talks at the ornate Konstantin Palace overlooking the Gulf of Finland were other issues that have continued to dog U.S.-Russian relations - such as differing approaches to the Mideast crisis and energy security.

The summit was otherwise tightly stage-managed: Organizers put St. Petersburg's regal majesty on full display for international TV cameras, and security forces squelched any attempt by protesters to repeat the violence that marred some previous summits.

Sergei Markov, a political analyst with Kremlin ties at the Moscow-based Institute for Political Studies, pointed out that any substantive criticism of Putin's policies took place behind closed doors.

"Russia's role as an international power indeed has been strengthened," Markov said.

Throughout the summit, Putin seemed to be politely underscoring that he would not bend to the will of the West.

The joint press conference by President Bush and Putin on Saturday provided another gauge of the chilling U.S.-Russian relationship. When Bush waded cautiously into the democracy debate by pointing out that Iraq has free elections, Putin made a lighthearted but pointed jab, saying he wouldn't want the kind of democracy they have in Iraq - winning laughter from many in the audience.

Mendelson pointed out that Russian and U.S. officials did reach a crucial agreement on joining forces in developing civilian nuclear power and to jointly fight nuclear terrorism.

She cautioned against oversimplifying the relationship. "The reality is much more complex, there are parts that work and there are parts that don't. ... I don't expect a sharp decline in Russian-U.S. relations, but I also don't expect a sharp improvement in relations," she said.

The exploding Middle East conflict distracted from the Russian-set G-8 agenda, topped by energy security, education and health issues. But some observers said the crisis was a stroke of diplomatic good fortune for Russia. The eight leaders - with Putin as the host - hammered out a strong statement urging Israel to show "utmost restraint," while blaming Islamic militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas for igniting the crisis and setting out a specific blueprint for ending the crisis.

Other analysts said much of the summit was window-dressing, obscuring Russia's lack of strong, diplomatic tools that could mold pressing world issues.

Alexei Malashenko, an analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Center, said Russia's clout is still largely one-dimensional, based on a leveraging of its oil and gas reserves.

Source: AP

19/7/2006
http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2006/07/19/5008.shtml