[Even now, the Russians are exhibiting their reluctance to stand by their “agreements” with the USA. One can see that they’re only paying lip service to the USA’s requests… and that these agreements will amount to nothing.

Rest assured, the Russian missiles sold to Syria will find their way into Iraq and other theatres where American and even Israeli aircraft may be shot down.

It is interesting to see how Putin the Communist is strangling freedoms in Russia and slowly, but surely recreating the Soviet state.

I’ve always believed that Putin means business, and he is probably the most dangerous leader the Russians have had in my lifetime. He is a new Lenin… a very intelligent… very dangerous man… Jan]

US President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Thursday that Iran should not be permitted to obtain nuclear weapons and pledged to combat the proliferation of missile technology.

Yet despite the rhetorical agreement, the US and Russia remain at odds over how to prevent Teheran from achieving nuclear weapons capability. This weekend, Russia is set to sign a deal with Iran that will pave the way for the opening of the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear reactor to go on-line later this year. The US and Israel believe Iran could use the plant as cover for building atomic weapons.

On the sidelines of the Bush-Putin meeting, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed an agreement to control the spread of portable antiaircraft missiles, or MANPADS. It did not appear, however, that the agreement would affect Russia’s plans to sell SA-18 shoulder-held antiaircraft missiles to Syria, a move protested by Washington and Jerusalem.

Russia’s Interfax agency quoted Ivanov as saying the deal meant the “sides only undertake to keep partners informed of the sales, because only Russia and the United States produce these weapons.”

A fact sheet released by the State Department said the deal “will allow the two countries to share information about MANPADS sales and transfers to third countries.”

It was not immediately known if Bush raised the Russian missile sale to Syria with Putin.

Regarding Iran, Bush said, “We agreed that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. And I appreciate Vladimir’s understanding on that issue. We had a very constructive dialogue about how to achieve that common goal.” He was speaking at a joint news conference with Putin in Bratislava, Slovakia, the final stop in his four-day journey across Europe.

Throughout his European tour, Bush faced questions about the Iranian nuclear program. On Tuesday, he said the idea that the US was preparing to attack Iran was “simply ridiculous,” although he quickly added that “all options are on the table.”

The UK, France and Germany are offering Iran economic incentives to abandon its nuclear program. The US has remained out of the talks, even though the Europeans have told the US the diplomatic route will likely fail unless the US becomes involved.

Bush said he and Putin agreed “to work together to find peace in the Middle East,” and paid heed to Russia’s role as a member of the Quartet, along with the US, EU and the UN, the players who drafted the road map peace plan that sketched out a series of steps for achieving Palestinian statehood by the end of this year.

The most interesting give and take during the press conference was over the question of Russia’s eroding democracy. Human rights groups and other Russia critics had urged Bush before his meeting with Putin to raise the issue of abuses by Putin’s government.

Freedom House in December downgraded Russia from “partly free” to “not free” in its global survey, citing a “growing trend under President Vladimir Putin to concentrate political authority, harass and intimidate the media, and politicize the country’s law-enforcement system.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists, in a letter to Bush on Sunday, described a “dramatic decline in press freedom” during Putin’s tenure.

Putin said there was “no way back” from the choice in favor of democracy Russia made 14 years ago.

But he qualified that commitment, saying, “The principles of democracy should be adequate to the current status of the development of Russia, to our history and our traditions.”

Talking “about where we have more, or where we have less democracy, is not the right thing to do,” Putin added. And he said that much criticism of Russia came from people who “do not have the full understanding of what is taking place in the Russian federation.”

It remains to be seen if Bush will push Putin on his violations of democracy. Spreading democracy remains at the core of Bush’s foreign policy. But he is also sympathetic to Putin’s war on terrorism and does not want to sour his personal ties with the Russian leader.

“We have had over the past four years very constructive relations,” Bush said. “And that’s the way I’m gong to keep it for the next four years as well.”

Bush’s checklist for topics to bring up in his meeting with Putin “ in addition to political freedom and press freedom “ also included Jewish book freedom.

Bush told Orthodox Jewish leaders in the US that he would encourage Putin to return sacred books that were seized during a crackdown on religion by the Soviet government more than 80 years ago.

All 100 members of the US Senate signed a letter urging the Russian government to return the books to the New York-based Chabad-Lubavitch movement. The Russian government returned some of the books in December 2002, but the rest remain in the Russian State Library.

Rabbi Chaim Cunin, who has been working to get the books returned, said the White House told him Friday that Bush personally would deliver the senators’ letter to Putin. Cunin and his brother, also an American rabbi, quickly arranged flights to Bratislava and received a moment with Bush before the meeting.

“We thanked him for everything he is doing and wished him our blessing in persuading President Putin to do what is right,” Cunin said. “These were books that our ancestors held for years, and now they are just sitting in storage.”

AP contributed to this report.

Source: Jerusalem Post
URL: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagena…br>By: Janine Zacharia, THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 24, 2005