Rather than America’s, NATO Ministers Prefer to ‘Sing their Own Tune’: Izvestia, Russia
Engaging in a bit of Russian horn blowing, that nation’s Izvestia newspaper puts a Russian spin on this week’s meeting of NATO foreign ministers that ended yesterday. Izvestia columnist Ksenya Fokina writes in part:
“Attempts by Washington to turn a regular meeting of Alliance foreign ministers into a comeuppance for Russia “over Georgia,” haven’t had the desired effect. On the sidelines of the meeting, one heard jokes on the topic of the musical exorcism of Condoleezza Rice [reference to Secretary Rice's piano recital for the British Queen - see video, below] – who is already largely removed from the fateful decisions about peace. Therefore, statements by the secretary of state that she was against military cooperation with Russia weren’t taken very seriously.”
By Ksenya Fokina
Translated By Yekaterina Blinova
December 2, 2008
Izvestia, Russia – Original Article (Russian)
On Tuesday, a heated discussion took place in Brussels over what to do with Georgia and Ukraine. However, the topic of admitting these countries to the ranks of the North Atlantic Alliance clearly receded into the background. Of far more concern to the 26 heads of foreign ministries was the future relationship with Russia. Especially when one considers that at the same time, in the same Brussels, as the locomotive of Russian-European relations was being actively pushed forward, in Helsinki preparations were underway for discussions of a Russian initiative along the same lines but in regard to another organization – the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe [OSCE ] – for the establishment of a new European security system.
Attempts by Washington to turn a regular meeting of Alliance foreign ministers into a comeuppance for Russia “over Georgia,” haven’t had the desired effect. On the sidelines of the meeting, one heard jokes on the topic of the musical exorcism of Condoleezza Rice [reference to Secretary Rice's piano recital for the British Queen - see video, below] – who is already largely removed from the fateful decisions about peace. Therefore, statements by the secretary of state that she was against military cooperation with Russia weren’t taken very seriously.
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