>From a pro-Kremlin website.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal ------------------ strana.ru May 27, 2002 Putin And Bush Create Foundation of New Alliance The two presidents lay the foundation of a new anti-terrorist alliance leading to the formation of a military-political alliance By Nikolai Ulyanov
It is quite clear that Russia is a U.S. ally if only as far as the fight against terrorism is concerned. In Afghanistan it has demonstrated far greater reliability as a partner than Europe by arming and equipping the Northern Alliance and providing the Americans with reconnaissance reports and maps.
It is noteworthy that now George W. Bush is talking about the Russian people suffering at the hands of terrorists although time was when American leaders would only describe them as "insurgents" or "separatists." As a matter of fact, Russian leaders have all along called on the United States and other Western countries to stop calling terrorists in Russia "insurgents" and give them a more proper description - "cold-blooded murderers," a recent description given by the American president.
George W. Bush must have heeded those calls or more likely understood their meaning following the September 11 terrorist acts. He spoke of cooperation as the prime condition of victory in the first war of the 21st century. The change of tenor and phraseology might also have been the result of Russia's growing role in the fight against terrorism against the background of almost total indifference demonstrated by U.S. NATO allies toward Washington's fears in the face of new threats. Given that Europe has not seen major terrorist acts in its territory for a long time, it is not particularly anxious to get more closely involved "in the first war of the 21st century."
It seems natural, therefore, that Washington's choice of allies has extended to countries, which know 21st-century threats from their own experience and have a long record of dealing with such problems. They also have considerable military potentials and large resources of manpower. Russia is the most graphic case in point, India being another. Small wonder that a Pakistani government minister has said that in the event of a large-scale war between his country and India over Kashmir the United States will support Delhi. Hypothetically speaking, China too might be included in the list - it has made a considerable contribution to the success of the anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan although Washington would also consider other factors such as ideological differences.
In any case, Washington will look for allies who are aware of the threat of terrorism because it does not regard its European allies as completely reliable. As a result, the configuration of alliances based on common interests will undergo some change. In that sense Moscow and Washington have already created the backbone and architecture of new relations. The next objective is removing existing differences. One of them is Russia's nuclear cooperation with Iran. It is obvious that the Americans traditionally mistrust Iran and the Russians trust it. Significantly, the two leaders refrained from mentioning Iran in public during the Moscow summit. This could mean that they failed to reach an agreement, which is not surprising - the views of Moscow and Washington on the issue are too widely different.
Russia and the United States appear to want their alliance to go beyond the fight against terrorism. Their joint declaration speaks of their intention to cooperate in the resolution of regional conflicts - in Afghanistan, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Addressing a press conference later, George W. Bush added Chechnya to the list, but it is not yet clear what Washington intends to do to improve the situation there. Perhaps it will act indirectly by training Georgian anti-terrorist units who will then "cleanse" the Pankisis Gorge.
One of the most important results of the Russia-U.S. summit is the establishment of the foundation of a new anti-terrorist alliance, which will evolve into a military-political alliance of the two nations, which will be open to other countries.