Merkel, Medvedev to discuss strategic partnership

[bemildred]

Source: ITAR-TASS

BOCHAROV RUCHEI (Sochi), August 15 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss on Friday the development of strategic partnership between the two countries.

Merkel arrives in Russia on Medvedev invitation. Their meeting, the fourth this year, will take place in the Sochi residence of the Russian president "Bocharov Ruchei," where Medvedev arrived on Thursday evening. The two leaders will have on-one-one talks, and are expected to talk with reporters at a joint news conference.

An official in the administration of the Russian president told Itar-Tass that "bilateral economic ties are in special focus of the Russian and German leadership."

"The Germany's status as Russia's principal trade partner is proven by stable increase in trade turnover (up to 20 to 25 percent each year). Two-way trade made up 52.8 billion dollars last year. Russian exports and imports in the designated period, were worth, respectively, 26.3 billion dollars and 26.5 billion dollars.

Read more: http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12965863&PageNum=0

[bemildred]

1. Condemn Georgia, not us, Russia envoy tells Japan, G7

A Russian envoy called on Japan and other Group of Seven members to understand that Moscow's military action in Georgia was justified and to criticize Georgia for what he called its "extensive genocide" in South Ossetia.

"The 'international community,' as you call it, has chosen such abstract expressions that even diplomats find difficult to understand, like calling for both or all parties to exercise self-restraint," Mikhail Galuzin, charge d'affaires ad interim at the Russian Embassy in Tokyo, said Wednesday. "I had hoped (Japan) would have taken a clearer stance."

He added that Moscow also hopes Japan and the other major nations will clearly convey to Georgia's leader that they must not repeat such "irresponsible actions."

Georgia last week tried to regain control of South Ossetia, a Moscow-backed region that broke from Tbilisi in the early 1990s. The Georgian action drew a massive military response from Russia, which it said was intended to support Russian "peacekeepers" stationed in the region.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080815a6.html

[tularetom]

2. Who d'ya think is gonna wind up on the outside looking in?

Thanks, boy king. You have turned the world against us.

[Avalux]

3. Geez. I really think Bushco stepped in it this time.

Overplayed their hand and the rest of the world is saying "F* You".

[Mudoria]

4. The last time Russia and Germany got together...

Poland got fucked.

[Selatius]

5. Likely, this is not good news for the US. We've pushed Europe away. nt

[bemildred]

6. Well, it's not a good sign.

The Russians are working on getting their message out there. I don't know if Germany and Japan are ready to cut us loose yet. Must be an awkward situation for them. A little diplomacy could go a long way right now. Pity Bush is pResident.

[Selatius]

7. We're going to have to declare war on Japan and Germany again, I guess.

Why is it that nations won't bow to the US and worship it? Is that asking for too much?

:sarcasm:

[bemildred]

8. "Do you know who I am!!!!!?" nt

[unkachuck]

10. not good at all....

"The Russians are working on getting their message out there."

....and they're doing a pretty good job....they've been all over the Western media talking about our guy as a war criminal committing ethnic-cleansing and genocide....

"I don't know if Germany and Japan are ready to cut us loose yet."

....sure they are, maybe not in word, but certainly in deed....the Russians have huge stocks of oil, gas and other natural resources that the world desperately needs....

....what do we have to offer?....a bellicose president, a big military stick shrinking by the hour and maxed-out credit cards....

[bemildred]

11. Their economies and ours are deeply enmeshed.

In the words of Rodney King, I am sure they would prefer that we "all just get along". Since I'm reasonably confident that the Russians have no interest in a renewed cold war, it seems like a sensible attitude to me.

[pampango]

13. After Russia's brutal crackdown on their own breakaway province of Chechnya

it requires some stones for them to accuse Georgia of ethnic cleansing and genocide in South Ossetia. Hypocrisy rules foreign policy when the US condemns another country for crossing international boundaries and seeking regime change, while Russia condemns another country for using the military to suppress breakaway provinces.

Not sure what "cut us loose" means exactly. If it means that they will trade with Russia and buy Russian oil and gas, then they are ready to "cut us loose". If it means they will stop trading with us, ask our military stationed in their countries to leave, and generally having a pro-Western foreign policy, then I am not so sure that they are ready to "cut us loose".

[amandabeech]

12. The Germans want that gas pipeline.

It's late, but a former German prime minister, whose name I can't recall, is CEO of the pipeline that bypasses Poland. Quelle surprise there.

Putin is jerking the energy chain with Germany. He's done it with Ukraine, Moldova and Estonia, and they held firm. It doesn't sound like Germany will take the same course.

Putin may end up overplaying his hand in the long run. No one wants to be bullied, whether its Bush or Putin, the U.S. or Russia. This is an incentive for Germany and the rest of Europe to do the right thing and wean itself off fossil fuels or at least find a way to use them better.

If only we would do the same.

[bronxiteforever]

14. Its also about votes,the German public has a very negative view of the US

"Forty-eight percent of Germans think the United States is more dangerous than Iran, a new survey shows, with only 31 percent believing the opposite."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,474636,00.htm

It certainly does not hurt the German government politically to engage with Russia.

[amandabeech]

19. I knew it wasn't good, but I didn't realize that it was that bad.

It's going to take 4 Dem Presidential victories to really turn world opinion around by word and deed.

[curious one]

9. We are in trouble, serious trouble. No Friend is left.

[bemildred]

15. Medvedev hands over to Merkel pictures, videos filmed in SOssetia

BOCHAROV RUCHEI, August 15 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has invited the media to give thought to and to give three honest answers to three major questions concerning the coverage of events in South Ossetia.

“Question one – who was the first to start combat operations in South Ossetia? Russian peacekeepers, Russian troops, or the Georgian army? Let us take a look at what was shown on television. It remains unclear. But you and men known the answer to the question,” Medvedev told a media audience after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“Question two – would the international community really want the Ossetians in South Ossetia, and then the Abkhazians in Abkhazia to cease to exist as a result of these actions? Yes or no?” he went on to say.

“Now there is question three – has there been a humanitarian disaster as a result? And who is to now repair its effects – is this the sole competence of the Ossetians themselves and the Russian Federation?” Medvedev said. “If we find the answers to these questions, many things will get far clearer.”

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12969089&PageNum=0

[Supersedeas]

16. meanwhile the Oil Hungry chimp is weighing his military options--Last Days

[Retrograde]

17. Deja vu all over again

Mutual support pact with Poland, Germany and Russia aligning - seems I've heard of this happening last century.

Are the Caucauses the new Balkans?

[maddezmom]

18. Merkel Calls for Peace as Medvedev Again Warns Georgia

Merkel Calls for Peace as Medvedev Again Warns Georgia
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Merkel talked tough in Sotchi, broaching many topics Medvedev tried to avoid
After meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Sochi, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev justified Russia's military action in Georgia and warned that if pressed Russia would respond in the same way again.

"If our peacekeeping troops and our citizens are attacked, we will respond in the future in the same way that we have responded. Let there be no doubt about this," Medvedev said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Black Sea resort of Sochi Friday, Aug. 15.

Medvedev insisted that Russia was "the guarantor of security in the Caucasus and the region" and that Russian troops would remain in Georgia.

more;http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3567243,00.html