"The focus of any new security forum would shift away from the trans-Atlantic relationship... eastward to Russia, the Central Asian countries, China, and India. Such a shift would weaken America's influence."
Yeah, that'll ruffle some feathers, even though the trends are already going that way!!!!
"Russia proposes security revamp; Would put itself at center of pact" by Judy Dempsey, International Herald Tribune | July 28, 2008
BERLIN - Russia will present to NATO's top diplomats today a radical set of proposals aimed at putting the Kremlin at the center of a new security architecture for Europe that would sideline the alliance and other international organizations that Russia believes are outdated and do not reflect its interests.
The proposals, the text of which was obtained by the International Herald Tribune, will be presented in Brussels by Dmitri Rogozin, Russia's ambassador to the US-led military alliance. They are designed to create a legally binding security pact that could even include China and India, and which would also include nonaggression treaties.
The idea behind the proposals, security specialists say, would be to weaken the NATO military alliance and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which were established during the Cold War.
"Russia may want to create a new organization that would get rid of the Organization of Security and Cooperation and NATO. At least that seems to be the ideal," said Lieutenant Colonel Marcel de Haas, a Russia security analyst at Clingendael, the Netherlands Institute of International Relations.
The focus of any new security forum would shift away from the trans-Atlantic relationship - the cornerstone of European security for nearly 60 years - to a broader Europe that would look eastward to Russia, the Central Asian countries, China, and India. Such a shift would weaken America's influence, diplomatic specialists say.
The Russian plans would incite a debate about how to deal with a more assertive and wealthier Russia, where the leadership under President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is beginning to formulate its foreign policy strategy.
"Moscow believes that the current security architecture in Europe is a remnant of the Cold War bloc ideology," said Andrew Monaghan, a Russia analyst at NATO's defense college in Rome. "Russia sees itself as the largest state straddling Europe and Asia which has the strength and capacity to adopt a global purview," he added. "This includes protecting and projecting its national interests and actively proposing solutions to international problems."
One would think this will make an attack on Iran even more likely and urgent, no?
Rogozin, an outspoken diplomat who was sent to NATO by Putin earlier this year, will first propose a new European Security Treaty, which will be a legally binding document and which would be based on the UN Charter.
Second, Russia intends to convene an international forum that would include the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, NATO, the EU, the Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States and the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, which involves Central Asian countries.
Rogozin said the strains have become so great, that "Europe is breaking apart, certain states and entire countries are being isolated and new threats are not being properly addressed by the world community and in this light our common security is suffering."--MORE--"
Sitting in the stomach like a heavy load, isn't it, neo-cons?
