July 16, 2007 (LPAC)--Former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeni Primakov has published an incisive appeal to the United States to formulate strategic policies in the USA's own best interests, including cooperation with Russia, as well as China and India, aimed at resolving conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. His article appeared in Moscow News on July 12, the day before the inaugural meeting of the strategic dialogue group "Russia and the USA: Looking At the Future," which Primakov co-chairs with Henry Kissinger. EIR magazine reports in its July 20 issue, how the Kissinger-Primakov group emerged at the end of April, as part of the process that led to President Vladimir Putin's July 1-2 talks with President George Bush at his father's house in Kennebunkport, Maine.
In his Moscow News article, Primakov urged the USA to reconsider its international priorities. Currently, he said, the "principal issues" dividing the USA and Russia are the U.S. plan to deploy an ABM system in Eastern Europe, and Washington's backing for de jure independence for Kosovo from Serbia. "It is indicative that none of these problems is vital for the United States," wrote Primakov, adding that for Russia they are. Yet, conflict over these issues has intensified, "at a time when, it would seem, Washington has an objective interest in close cooperation with Moscow to resolve an array of conflicts, which are far more important for the United States and the international community as a whole." These are Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran, as well as Palestinian-Israeli relations.
After the Kissinger-Primakov group's July 13 meeting with Putin, Primakov declined to reveal the details of their discussion, urging the media to "let us do our work." At the same time, his article reveals that on crisis after crisis, Primakov wants to highlight and build upon every glimmer of a U.S. policy-turn away from global showdown, such as last year's Baker-Hamilton recommendations on Iraq.
Primakov, who is famous as a specialist on Southwest Asia, pointedly described how the Bush administration's "surge" policy has come to grief in Iraq. He cited Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, and also the Iraq Study Group ("Baker-Hamilton") report, prepared in the United States itself at the end of last year, for having called to include Iran and Syria in attempts to resolve the Iraq crisis. "Iran and Syria are showing interest in contacts with the United States," Primakov said, "Russia, which has close ties with Syria and Iran, could be not-entirely-useless in overcoming the Iraqi crisis."
The publication of Primakov's view of such possible Russian-American cooperation on ending the war in Iraq, makes a sharp contrast to the heavy coverage throughout the Russian media on July 16, of a London Guardian report of renewed pressure from Vice-President Dick Cheney on Bush, to attack Iran.
Primakov suggested that Russia could play a role in Afghanistan, where the NATO operation "is evidently going nowhere." In view of memories of the Soviet Union's disastrous engagement in Afghanistan, beginning at the end of 1979, Primakov said it was unlikely that Russia would send troops there, yet there is a recent record of Russia's role in helping Bush "launch an anti-terrorism operation in Afghanistan," and in ejecting the Taliban from Kabul. "Could Moscow's experience in Afghanistan not be used in the war on terror today?" asked Primakov.
Primakov brought in the possibility of U.S. cooperation with all three members of the Eurasian Strategic Triangle, (as he once named the combination of Russia, China, and India), concerning the "increasingly destabilizing situation" in nuclear-armed Pakistan. Washington's preoccupation with installing ABM systems in Europe, Primakov warned, could cause it to "miss the boat" in Pakistan. The prospect of internal conflict there, "eclipses the concern that Iran could, within a few years, acquire nuclear weapons in 'embryonic' form." Indeed, he added, recent "overtures toward cooperation," on the part of Iran, can be attributed to "a change in the U.S. position: at first, the United States threatened to use force against Iran, but then it made a U-turn and went along with Russia, which believes that the problem may only be resolved by political means. Is it not time for the USA to start consultations with Russia, India, and China on Pakistan?"
Concerning Israeli-Palestinian relations, Primakov called for reviving the efforts of the Quartet (United Nations, European Union, Russia, USA), as against an attempt by Washington at "monopolizing the peace process."
