28 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Seyfolreza Shahabi
• Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

There is a proverb in Farsi saying that: “The rude thief will blame the host for the theft.” Israeli’ protest at Turkey on the visit by Iranian president to that Muslim country is the real example of the above-mentioned proverb. Tel Aviv and her western supporters believe Israel is informed about the diplomatic game at international as well as regional level and obliges herself to observe the recognized diplomatic principles. They accuse other independent countries of impoliteness in diplomatic relations while, contrary to the diplomatic norms, Tel Aviv permits herself to interfere in the domestic affairs of a big Muslim country in the Middle East and protest at the visit to Turkey by the president of a Muslim country. Tel Aviv has even taken a step further, and the ambassador of Tel Aviv in Ankara has submitted a letter from Israeli Foreign Ministry to the Turkish authorities. This is while two Muslim and neighbouring countries of Iran and Turkey have been on good terms and relations with each other from old times when Israel had not been yet conceived as the result of political intimacy of America and Britain.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Regional Security, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

28 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Alexander Osipovich, Alexander Osipovich

Russia on Thursday tested an inter-continental missile, heightening tensions with the West as France said the European Union could impose sanctions on Moscow over the Georgia conflict.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Energy and Nuclear Safety, East-West Relations and Russia, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD, Regional Security, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

28 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: States News Service

The following information was released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:

UN refugee agency chief António Guterres today completed a three-day visit to Pakistan during which the government agreed to revise its Afghan repatriation strategy beyond 2009. Both parties also reached a strong consensus on projects to develop refugee-hosting areas in Pakistan.
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Filed by Anita Li under Development, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

27 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Author: RAPHAEL G. SATTER
• Source: Associated Press Newswires

The Group of Seven industrialized democracies condemned Russia on Wednesday for its actions in Georgia, underlining the country’s growing estrangement from the West. (more…)

Filed by Sarah Cale under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

27 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Ben Padley and Gavin Cordon
• Source: Press Association National Newswire

Britain tonight condemned Russia’s “excessive use of military force” in Georgia as Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned Russian president Dmitry Medvedev he had “big responsibility” not to provoke a new Cold War. (more…)

Filed by Sarah Cale under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

20 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Author: George Will
• Source: The Knoxville News Sentinel

Last August, John McCain’s campaign was out of money but flush with half-baked ideas that were unlikely to be improved by further baking. Anyway, to have many ideas is to have too many for a campaign’s concluding sprint, and McCain’s revival has not been robust enough to bring him even with Barack Obama. Now McCain’s rejuvenated hopes rest on his ability to recast this election, focusing it on who should lead America in a world suddenly darkened by Russia’s war of European conquest. To begin the recasting, he should weed from the unkempt garden of his political thinking the populism which often seems like mere attitudinizing redeemed by insincerity.Furthermore, his populism subverts his strength — the perception that although he is an acquired taste, he is serious. (more…)

Filed by Sarah Cale under Other, East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security, Democratization and Human Rights

20 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Agence France Presse

Russia must respect Georgia’s territorial integrity, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday, while insisting NATO is not in a “stand-off as in the old Cold War days” with Moscow. (more…)

Filed by Sarah Cale under Development, East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

20 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: States News Service

The following information was released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury:

G-7 Finance Ministers today issued the following statement on Georgia:

“G-7 Finance Ministers welcome the international mediation efforts to end the hostilities and to bring about a political solution to the conflict in Georgia. The loss of life, humanitarian suffering and wider destruction over recent days is considerable, and we welcome commitments to assist with the urgent humanitarian needs. (more…)

Filed by Sarah Cale under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security, Democratization and Human Rights

17 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Question Period

STEPHEN HARPER (Canadian Prime Minister): I must tell you that I am deeply troubled by a notion I see developing in Russia, and that is a notion that Russia somehow has a say or some control over countries outside of its borders. In my judgment, this is a very worrisome development. It really indicates a Soviet-era mentality, and I think it is something that all democratic countries should speak out strongly against. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

17 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Kirsty Buchanan
• Source: The Express on Sunday

DAVID CAMERON stole a march on political rivals as he visited Georgia to warn of “appalling atrocities” being committed by Russians.

The Conservative leader called on the West to increase pressure on Moscow to withdraw its forces.

His action was in stark contrast to the low-profile approach of Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who have remained on holiday throughout the crisis.

Mr Cameron met members of the government in Tbilisi and had talks with President Mikheil Saakashvili.

In what will be seen as a veiled attack on the stay-athome Prime Minister, Mr Cameron said it “mattered” that Western leaders visited the beleaguered Caucasus republic.

He added: “I’m here as a politician representing one of the world’s oldest democracies to show support for one of the world’s newest.

“We are absolutely right to stand by a country, its democracy and its territorial integrity when it has been violated in this way.” However, aides to the Tory leader insisted last night there was no political differences between Mr Cameron and the Prime Minister over support for Georgia. Mr Cameron has been at the forefront of demands for the British Government to get tough with Moscow, calling for Russia’s expulsion from the G8 and new restrictions on Russian nationals travelling to the UK. He has also pressed for Georgia’s application for NATO membership to be speeded up.

Mr Cameron agreed with criticisms by President Saakashvili that the West had been slow to respond to the week-old conflict. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday signed a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending hostilities with Georgia over breakaway South Ossetia.

But Russian ministers are dragging their feet on troop withdrawal and soldiers were last night dug in 18 miles from Tiblisi, despite growing pressure from President Bush.

Mr Cameron, who spent the bulk of yesterday morning in Georgia before flying out to a family holiday in Turkey, warned Russia would be “held to account” for any atrocities being committed on Georgian soil.

“We need to send a very clear message, while they are in control of this territory, which they should not be, anything that happens there will be held to account for.” Mr Brown has pledged £2million of medical aid for South Ossetia and called for a Russian troop withdrawal from Georgian territory after speaking to President Saakashvili by telephone.

But Downing Street said the Prime Minister had no plans to follow in the footsteps of Mr Cameron or US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with a visit to Tbilisi.

The Prime Minister is currently meant to be planning a trip abroad – a visit to Beijing for the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games next week.

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

17 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Scotland on Sunday

SUDDENLY much of the international discourse of the past decade seems to pale into insignificance. The days when G8 summits could afford to focus on the very real challenges of climate change or aid to Africa already have the aureole of nostalgia. Nuclear powers are squaring up belligerently to each other, as in the 1960s, while national borders are violated. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

17 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: The Observer

DAVID CAMERON last night called for visa restrictions on Russian citizens wanting to visit Britain to punish Russia for its invasion of Georgia. The Tory leader also called for Moscow to be suspended from the G8 group of industrial nations and for its talks on a partnership agreement with the EU to be frozen. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

17 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Albuquerque Journal

The Russian bear is back.

After a long and humiliating hibernation following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia has grown muscular and aggressive on its new-found oil and gas wealth — and is on the prowl in its old territory. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

17 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Clive Crook
• Source: Financial Times

So far, reaction in the US to Russia’s invasion of Georgia has been all Vladimir Putin could have wished. Exhausted in every way by its experience in Iraq (a failure not much mitigated by recent progress there), its authority and sense of purpose quite depleted, the US looked slower and less decisive than Europe in its initial response, and that is saying something. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

17 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: The Commercial Appeal

WASHINGTON - There is blame to go around as the United States assesses the disastrous consequences of the war in Georgia.

President Bush was overconfident. Georgia’s pro-American President Mikhail Saakashvili overreached. And Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pounced. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

17 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Michael Nakoryakov
• Source: The Salt Lake Tribune

Whatever President Bush saw in Vladimir Putin’s eyes a few years ago must not be there anymore. Things are not good between the U.S. and Russia these days. And the immediate reason is a tiny country (roughly one-third the size of Utah) in the Caucasus Mountains called Georgia, which Russia invaded the week before last. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

17 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: The Nation

By now it’s become a cliché to suggest that the crisis in Georgia has presented both Senators McCain and Obama with a “3 a.m. moment.” (That being a reference, of course, to the Hillary Clinton television ad in which the White House Hotline phone rings at 3 a.m. while a narrator asks, “It’s 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep… Something’s happening in the world… Who do you want answering the phone?”) A bit trite, to be sure, but the crisis has, in fact, revealed a great deal about both candidates for president. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

13 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Associated Press Newswires

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband says Russia’s assault on Georgia shows it can’t accept the Soviet Union era is over. (more…)

Filed by Sarah Cale under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

13 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Author: AOIFE WHITE
• Source: Associated Press Newswires

Germany warned Wednesday against shutting Russia out of the international community in response to attacks on Georgian forces. (more…)

Filed by Sarah Cale under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

13 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Voice of America Press Releases and Documents

A senior U.S. defense official says the United States has canceled a joint naval exercise with Russia, scheduled for this week. (more…)

Filed by Sarah Cale under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

13 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Tony Harris, Heidi Collins, Zain Verjee, Kate Bolduan, Barbara Starr, Frederik Pleitgen, Josh Levs, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Rob Marciano, Tom Foreman, John Vause, Susan Lisovicz
• Source: CNN: CNN Newsroom

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Days of war, hours of peace. Right now, growing fears a cease-fire between Russia and Georgia may be more fragile than ever. President Bush will address the situation just minutes from right now. But first, let’s set the stage for you. (more…)

Filed by Sarah Cale under Other, East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

12 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Reuters News

Russian integration into international institutions such as the World Trade Organization is at stake because of Moscow’s military operations in Georgia, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.

“Russia is going to have to ensure its integration into the WTO, and OECD (the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), and the G8 (the Group of Eight nations), and institutions like that,” the U.S. official told reporters, referring to plans by the government of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to join important global clubs. (more…)

Filed by Ozlem Yucel under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

12 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Paul Taylor
• Source: Reuters News

European Union foreign ministers on Wednesday will consider symbolic action against Russia to show their displeasure at its use of force against Georgia, EU diplomats said on Tuesday.

It was not clear whether Moscow’s friends in western Europe, notably France, Germany and Italy, would agree to any statement or measure critical of Russia. (more…)

Filed by Ozlem Yucel under East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

10 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: CNN: LATE EDITION W/WOLF BLITZER

BLITZER: Russian tanks roll into the neighboring Republic of Georgia. Thousands are reported dead and the conflict is growing. We’ll speak to both sides. What will impact be on U.S.-Russian relations? Two top members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Cornyn and Carl Levin, weigh in on that and more. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under Development, East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security, Democratization and Human Rights

10 August 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: The Sunday Telegraph

Russia’s ruthless attack on Georgia is a dramatic and depressing reminder of the willingness of the Soviet Union (and, before it, imperial Russia) to pursue its foreign policy across the borders of sovereign nations. It is true that Georgia - unlike, say Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 - walked into a trap. What did it imagine would be Moscow’s response to its own assault on Tskhinvali, the capital of the Russian-supported breakaway province of South Ossetia? Did the Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, not realise that he was providing his enemy with an excuse not just to invade the rebel province but also to launch air strikes on central Georgia? Yet the excuse is not a valid one. Russia’s behaviour is indefensible. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under Development, East-West Relations and Russia, Conflict Prevention and Human Security, Democratization and Human Rights