| inbluevt | Date: Friday, 2013/08/30, 11:41 PM | Message # 1 | DMCA |
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FOR a time after Vladimir Putin first became Russia’s president almost 14 years ago, there were hopes that, though no liberal, he was moving in a pro-Western direction. But as he prepares to welcome global leaders to the G20 summit in St Petersburg next week, it is ever more obvious
that, whether in international diplomacy over Syria or on domestic issues like the jailing of opposition leaders or gay rights, he is on an explicitly anti-Western course. Indeed, hostility to the West has
become a hallmark of his third presidential term (see "Russia and the West: Cold climate").
Fortunately, Mr Putin’s influence is declining. European countries who were dependent on Russian gas used to be easy to bully. Now a mix of falling energy consumption, new pipelines that skirt round Russia, the exploitation elsewhere of shale gas and oil, and the subjection of Russian energy producers to EU competition rules has eroded his clout.
Yet Russia is still a power of serious consequence. It remains the world’s biggest oil-and-gas producer; it has a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and a nuclear-weapons stockpile. The West needs to deal with it on such matters as Syria, Iran, leaving Afghanistan, arms
control and international terrorism. Except on Iran, Russia has offered little co-operation on any of these issues: witness Mr Putin’s continuing protection of the vile Assad regime in Syria (see previous
leader). That argues for a tougher approach from the West.
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Message edited by inbluevt - Friday, 2013/08/30, 11:43 PM |
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