Russia 101202 Basic Political Developments

Slovenia President urges OSCE to focus on Russia’s common European security plan

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/12/02/36099110.html
Dec 2, 2010 09:36 Moscow Time

President of Slovenia Danilo Türk has called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to pay attention to the initiative put forward by the Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev concerning a new European security architecture.

Speaking at the OSCE summit in the Kazakh capital Astana, Mr. Türk said that he viewed Russia’s proposal as innovative approach to the issues of European and global security.

“This initiative should be approached openly and creatively”, the Slovenian leader said.   

02 December 2010, 10:02

Kazakhstan wants OSCE to put religious tolerance on its agenda

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7975

Astana, December 2, Interfax - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed that the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) add religious tolerance to its key values usually referred to as the three "dimensions" - politico-military, economic and environmental, and human.

"We propose that religious tolerance be made a separate dimension. Today we need an honest, open inter-religious dialogue," Nazarbayev said at the OSCE summit in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, the country holding this year's chairmanship of the organization.

He suggested that the OSCE use a planned congress of leaders of global and traditional religious communities in Astana as the floor for discussions on the religious tolerance issue.

"It is our trust that Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism have descended to us in order to create peace and not hostility," he said.

"I would also like to propose that we jointly develop a document on tolerance for the new decade," he added.

"Today rifts of mistrust in the OSCE space primarily manifest themselves within individual countries, and only afterward do they have negative effects on regional and global situations. Such practices include public attempts to insult religious values and other things we know about," he said.

He expressed approval of the U.S. position on religious tolerance as set forth at "the Cairo meeting of Barack Obama" and suggested that the OSCE work to put into practice the principles declared by Obama at the meeting.

Turkey names candidate for OSCE secretary-general

http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=66931

Gul said that Turkey nominated Ersin Ercin as candidate for Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
Thursday, 02 December 2010 09:47
Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday that Turkey nominated Ersin Ercin as candidate for Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

"We received an important support on the matter," Gul said at a meeting with the Turkish reporters in Astana where he attended OSCE Summit.

"We have nominated Ercin as candidate for OSCE secretary-general. Ercin is also my special consultant for European security. I have been introducing Ercin to leaders during the international summits and meetings held in the recent months," Gul said.

Ercin currently acts as Turkey's ambassador in Brazil.

Commenting of OSCE Summit, Gul said it was the first OSCE summit to be held 11 years after 1999 Istanbul summit.

Gul said OSCE had three essential principles, which were finding solution to problems on political and military issues, spread of democracy, law standards and respect to human rights as well as economic cooperation. "Political and military issues come forefront among those principles," Gul underlined.

Gul referred to active role of Turkey in OSCE, noting that Turkey assumed an important role particularly in solution of political problems in Europe through peaceful means.

Gul said the Caucasus, Upper-Karabakh problem and internal problems in Georgia and Moldova were among the important political and security matters OSCE deals with nowadays.

Turkish president said all the leaders attending the summit reaffirmed commitment to principles of OSCE and action plan.

"Meeting with Medvedev"

Gul said he had some bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the OSCE Summit held in Kazakhstan.

Turkish president said his meeting with Russian President Dimitry Medvedev mainly focused on the Caucasus and stability of the region.

Gul underscored that Russia was the most important actor in solution of problems in the Caucasus. "Medvedev and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have good-will in solution of problems. Talks regarding Turkish-Armenian relations and developments in Georgia speeded up during Medvedev's term in office.

"Of course, Turkey is also a very important actor in solution of those problems. I am considering the issue from a perspective including the problems in whole Caucasus. Problems interesting Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan should definitely be solved within a broad framework. I believe that overcoming the problems will be in the advantage of Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia," Gul said.

"Relations with Armenia"

Referring to normalization process in Turkish-Armenian relations, Gul said, "nothing died. We are resolved. We should carry out studies about the ways to achieve it. Difficult problems can not be solved immediately. We should work on them insistently. The problems should be solved in the interests of every party. I believe that this matter should not be retarded. Everybody should remember those experienced between Russia and Georgia two years ago."

Historically meaningless summit of obsolete organization

http://english.pravda.ru/world/europe/02-12-2010/116021-osce_summit-0/

02.12.2010

On December 1 and 2 the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is holding a summit in Astana, Kazakhstan. The last meeting of this organization was held 11 years ago in Istanbul. This makes the December OSCE summit in Astana a historic event both for Kazakhstan and for the entire world community.

For the first time in the history of the organization it is headed by a CIS country, which reflects the recognition of the increasing geopolitical importance of Kazakhstan in the international arena.

It was not an accident that Prime Minister Karim Masimov emphasized that the decision of the OSCE Ministerial Council to hold the supreme forum of the OSCE in the capital of his country was a historic success of Kazakhstan, which is especially noteworthy against the backdrop of the 11-year gap after the previous summit in Istanbul in 1999.

Why such an important role was given to Kazakhstan? French Consul General in Alma-Ata, Guillaume Narzhole, explained the reasons. "It is Kazakhstan's chairmanship in the OSCE that made the organization transform from a field of conflict between East and West to the ground for a dialogue. In the past five or six years, the OSCE was just a hostage to the differences between East and West. Therefore, it first should be noted that it was under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan when a new impetus was given to the OSCE development," he said.

In turn, the leaders of this country believe that ensuring the security of Europe is not solely the task of the European countries. As recently stressed by Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Masimov, "We declare our intention to strengthen the organization's role in countering new threats and challenges, especially terrorism and drug trafficking."

Yet, if we put lofty speeches aside, the reasoning behind holding the first summit of the OSCE in 11 years in Kazakhstan goes beyond the willingness to accept it as an equal European partner. As we know, this country has a special strategic position in Central Asia as well as the largest reserves of energy in the region. According to expert estimates, oil sales alone will bring Kazakhstan over $700 billion in the next 30 years. The enhanced use of these resources will help to significantly reduce the dependence of the West from oil and gas from Persian Gulf.

In addition, according to some experts, another argument that affected Europe's decision to make Kazakhstan the OSCE chairman, is Astana's active participation in the Customs Union between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. As noted by the OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, "the Customs Union is a part of a globalizing world, the direction worthy of development. It will improve the stability and welfare of its members."

In other words, we cannot rule out that the OSCE chairmanship was given to Kazakhstan in order to eliminate its excessive rapprochement with Russia.

The OSCE used to play a prominent role in international affairs. For example, at the summit held in November of 1990 in Paris, the Charter of Paris for a New Europe which proclaimed the end of the Cold War was signed. The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe was also signed there, and at the last summit in 1999 Russia pledged to withdraw troops from Georgia and Moldova.

What should we expect from the OSCE summit in Astana? Alexander Rahr, director of Berthold Beitz Center at the German Council on Foreign Relations, shared his thoughts with Pravda.ru.

"The level of significance of the OSCE today is clear from the fact that in his message to the Federal Assembly, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev did not even mention this organization. In other words, this structure is now of secondary importance compared to other institutions like NATO. The OSCE Summit will be held in the shadows of a recent meeting in Lisbon. That was the meeting where major international changes relating to security were discussed. Nothing like this will happen at the OSCE summit.

The following will happen at the Astana summit: the leaders of former USSR countries will throw all issues in one basket, including unresolved conflicts in the Caucasus (along with the issues regarding Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh) and the situation in Kyrgyzstan.

I will not even dwell on possible solutions. The question arises whether all the issues the participants of the summit are interested in can be simply put on the agenda of the meeting in Astana.

The OSCE is an obsolete organization which was preserved only because it is seen as a platform for a dialogue with the Eurasian countries such as Russia and Kazakhstan that are not able to speak on equal terms with the European Union. The presence of the OSCE allows these states to not feel excluded from the participation in international affairs."

Sergei Balmasov

Pravda.Ru