US President George W. Bush praised Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday as a “smart guy” who means what he says, even as they clashed on US missile defense plans.
The two leaders, holding their first face-to-face meeting since Medvedev took the reins from Vladimir Putin in May, also highlighted their cooperation in diplomatic efforts to resolve nuclear disputes with Iran and North Korea.
“There are topics on which we are making progress, such as Iran and North Korea, but there topics on which we diverge, such as the missile shield and European matters, but there are possibilities for agreement,” said Medvedev at the meeting on the fringes of a summit of rich nations in Japan.
PHOTO: AFP
“While there’s [sic] some areas of disagreement, there’s [sic] also areas where I know we can work together for the common good,” the US president said. “I found him to be a smart guy who understood the issues very well.”
“Iran is an area where Russia and the United States have worked closely in the past and will continue to work closely to convince the regime to give up its desire to enrich uranium,” he added.
Seven years after Bush declared he had looked into Putin’s eyes at their first meeting, seen his soul and deemed him trustworthy, the US president declined to offer a similar assessment of the new Russian leader.
“I’m not going to sit here and psychoanalyze the man, but I will tell you that he’s very comfortable, he’s confident,” Bush said. “You may not agree with what he tells you, but at least you know it’s what he believes.”
Later, Medvedev’s diplomatic adviser, Sergei Prikhodko, said the Russian president had warned Bush that installing part of a missile defense shield in Lithuania was “absolutely unacceptable.”
Thus-far inconclusive US talks with Poland on basing 10 missile interceptors there have fueled media reports that Washington may be looking at other possible sites, including Lithuania.
“Any missile defense installation, no matter where in Europe, is not a threat to Russia,” said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe, who called any discussion of bases in Lithuania rather than Poland “premature.”
Bush leaves office in fewer than 200 days and is at his last G8 summit, while Medvedev took office in May and is making his debut at the elite gathering of leaders.
“I reminded him that, yes, I’m leaving, but not until six months and I’m sprinting to the finish. So we can get a lot done together and, you know, a lot of important issues,” the US leader said.
Bush had been expected to raise US worries about the rule of law and democracy in Russia and flaring tensions between former Soviet satellite Georgia and its giant neighbor are on the agenda, US officials said.
He had also planned to reaffirm his support for admitting Russia to the WTO, as they met on the margins of the G8 summit of industrialized nations in the mountain resort.
With his youthful image and reputation for openness, Medvedev, 42, cuts a different character from his mentor Putin, who retains the powerful post of prime minister.
In policy terms, Medvedev has few differences from Putin — notably opposition to US plans to deploy a missile defense system against what Washington says is a threat from Iran and North Korea.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not