US President George W. Bush will join Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday for ceremonies commemorating the end of World War II in Europe.
The event aims to mark the sacrifices the Allies made to defeat Germany and force the nation's surrender on May 8, 1945, but Bush will have some other issues on his mind when he meets privately with his Russian counterpart.
Even though the two leaders enjoy a good personal relationship and are partners in the war on terrorism, Bush has been concerned about the course of Russian democracy under Putin's tenure.
The US has expressed disappointment over the crackdown on independent media in the country and Putin's effort to strengthen the power of the Kremlin at the cost of state governments.
DISAPPOINTMENT
When Bush and Putin met in Bratislava in February, the US president pressed the Russian on the importance of building viable democratic institutions to achieve stronger diplomatic and economic relations with the US.
"I was able to share my concerns about Russia's commitment in fulfilling these universal principles," Bush said after the meeting.
"I did so in a constructive and friendly way. I reaffirmed my belief that it is democracy and freedom that bring true security and prosperity in every land," he said.
The two sides have had differences. Putin worked with Germany and France to oppose the invasion of Iraq and the US has been annoyed about Russia's involvement in helping Iran build a nuclear reactor.
Putin was unhappy with US support for the democratic movements in Georgia and Ukraine, two former Soviet republics. During the trip, Bush plans on stopping in Latvia before Moscow and Georgia afterwards, two countries Putin considers defiant toward the Kremlin. Bush will also visit the Netherlands.
GEORGIA ON HIS MIND
Thousands of Georgians are expected to show up at Bush's speech in Tblisi's Freedom Square, where massive democratic protests in 2003 eventually ousted then-president Eduard Shevardnadze and replaced him with the more pro-western President Mikhail Saakashvili.
In the speech, Bush will "commend the people of Georgia for choosing democracy, and standing up for their freedoms through non-violent means," Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security advisor, told reporters on Wednesday.
Hadley insisted Bush's stops in Latvia and Georgia were not meant as an affront to Putin, but to celebrate the defeat of fascism and tyranny in Europe as part of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II on the continent as well as the collapse of communism, Hadley said.
"The president is not going to those two countries to send any message to Russia," he said.
CONCERNS ABOUT DEMOCRACY
Hadley also emphasized that the issue of Russian democracy has long been a topic on the agenda when the two leaders get together.
"As Russia becomes more democratic and strengthens its democratic institutions, it will enable us to have an even closer relationship with Russia," he said.
Despite differences, Bush and Putin try hard to portray a friendly personal relationship and focus on areas in which their governments can work together, such as persuading North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons and on peace in the Middle East.
Putin wrapped up a historical trip to the Middle East last month, including a stop in Israel, but his call to hold a peace conference in Moscow in the near future was met coolly back in Washington.
The White House said the process had yet to move along far enough to set up a gathering.
The Middle East peace conference is part of the "roadmap" peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and was drawn up by the US and Russia along with the UN and the EU.
MEDIA FREEDOM
US officials and perhaps even Bush was expected to bring up the slaying of an American journalist, Paul Klebnikov, in Moscow last July.
Klebnikov was gunned down while leaving his office at Forbes Russia magazine. His murder was one of many that have taken place in Russia during the last 10 years. Russian authorities charged two suspects in connection to Klebnikov's murder after their extradition from Belarus in February.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Klebnikov's widow and brother in Washington on Tuesday to ensure them the US would continue to push for justice.
"We'll continue to urge the government of Russia to pursue the investigation vigorously to a conclusion," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said after the meeting.
Boucher added that he "wouldn't be surprised" if the issue came up during Bush's trip.
Taiwan stands at the epicenter of a seismic shift that will determine the Indo-Pacific’s future security architecture. Whether deterrence prevails or collapses will reverberate far beyond the Taiwan Strait, fundamentally reshaping global power dynamics. The stakes could not be higher. Today, Taipei confronts an unprecedented convergence of threats from an increasingly muscular China that has intensified its multidimensional pressure campaign. Beijing’s strategy is comprehensive: military intimidation, diplomatic isolation, economic coercion, and sophisticated influence operations designed to fracture Taiwan’s democratic society from within. This challenge is magnified by Taiwan’s internal political divisions, which extend to fundamental questions about the island’s identity and future
The narrative surrounding Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attendance at last week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit — where he held hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin and chatted amiably with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — was widely framed as a signal of Modi distancing himself from the US and edging closer to regional autocrats. It was depicted as Modi reacting to the levying of high US tariffs, burying the hatchet over border disputes with China, and heralding less engagement with the Quadrilateral Security dialogue (Quad) composed of the US, India, Japan and Australia. With Modi in China for the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has postponed its chairperson candidate registration for two weeks, and so far, nine people have announced their intention to run for chairperson, the most on record, with more expected to announce their campaign in the final days. On the evening of Aug. 23, shortly after seven KMT lawmakers survived recall votes, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) announced he would step down and urged Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) to step in and lead the party back to power. Lu immediately ruled herself out the following day, leaving the subject in question. In the days that followed, several
The Jamestown Foundation last week published an article exposing Beijing’s oil rigs and other potential dual-use platforms in waters near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島). China’s activities there resembled what they did in the East China Sea, inside the exclusive economic zones of Japan and South Korea, as well as with other South China Sea claimants. However, the most surprising element of the report was that the authors’ government contacts and Jamestown’s own evinced little awareness of China’s activities. That Beijing’s testing of Taiwanese (and its allies) situational awareness seemingly went unnoticed strongly suggests the need for more intelligence. Taiwan’s naval
RSS