Geopolitical Events for February 15, 2007
The odds of a showdown with the East (Russia and China) are increasing by the day. The Iran situation could be the flash point that projects us deep into WWIII.
Russia threatens to quit arms treaty
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington, Neil Buckley in Moscow, Daniel Dombey in London and Jan Cienski in Warsaw
Published: February 15 2007 19:04 | Last updated: February 15 2007 19:04
Russia threatened on Thursday to pull out of a landmark nuclear arms control treaty unless the US backed away from plans to install its missile defence shield in Eastern Europe.
Yury Baluyevsky, the Russian army chief of staff, said Moscow might unilaterally withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty, which forced the US and the Soviet Union to ban nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500km.
There was “convincing evidence” for leaving the agreement because “many countries are developing and perfecting medium-range rockets”, he said.
But the general also explicitly linked Russia’s stance to the US’s plans to extend its missile defence into central Europe.
Putin reaffirms old divide within Nato
By Quentin Peel in Munich
Published: February 11 2007 18:28 | Last updated: February 11 2007 18:28
Maybe someone told Vladimir Putin that the annual Munich security conference was the place where Europeans and Americans always end up squabbling in public about who is responsible for the divisions in the Atlantic alliance. Or maybe he just felt like Daniel in the lion’s den, and did not care whom he offended.
Whatever inspired him, the Russian president certainly set the fur flying on his first visit to the Munich conference, where the cream of the Atlantic establishment has been meeting for 43 years. First he savaged the US for its unilateralism and disregard of international law. Then he rounded on the Europeans – especially his German hosts – for allowing the Nato alliance to enlarge and operate beyond its traditional borders.
But if Mr Putin expected to expose the splits in Nato, his truculent performance had the opposite effect. For the first time in at least a decade, the senior politicians, diplomats and defence ministers of the 26 Nato allies managed to close ranks against a common enemy. It was almost a relief to have a good old-fashioned Russian bogey-man to bash.
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