Bush Slams Russia for ‘Bullying’
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WASHINGTON (Aug. 15) — President Bush on Friday accused Russia of “bullying and intimidation” in its harsh military treatment of Georgia, saying the people in the former Soviet republic have chosen freedom and “we will not cast them aside.”
Bush ratcheted up his rhetoric against Moscow as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pursued a diplomatic solution to the week-old crisis. Rice was in Tblisi for talks with pro-Western Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili about details of the cease-fire, which would require Russia to withdraw its combat forces from Georgia but allow Russian peacekeepers to remain in South Ossetia and conduct limited patrols outside the region.
“Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected,” said Bush, speaking just outside the Oval Office before traveling to his Texas ranch for a two-week stay. Bush said he would get regular updates from Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates about the continuing showdown between Moscow and Tibilisi over two separatist provinces in Georgia.
Bush said that Russia, with its air, sea and land attacks in Georgia, had damaged its relations with the United States and other Western powers.
“Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century,” the president said. “Only Russia can decide whether it will now put itself back on the path of responsible nations or continue to pursue a policy that promises only confrontation and isolation.
“To begin repairing relations with the United States, Europe and other nations and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must respect the freedom of its neighbors,” Bush said.
Even before the crisis in Georgia, tensions between Washington and Moscow have been rising over disputes such as the independence of Kosovo, NATO’s expansion toward Russia’s borders and U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. In another development that infuriated Moscow, the United States and Poland reached a deal Thursday to install a U.S. missile defense base on Polish territory.
Still, Bush said, “The Cold War is over. The days of satellite states and spheres of influence are behind us.”
admin @ August 15, 2008