NEWS

President Dmitri Medvedev offered two five-point plans on getting the world out of the financial crisis and forging a new security treaty to maintain world peace, taking a tone that was anything but confrontational as global crisis overshadowed the controversy over Russian actions in Georgia. Speaking a the World Policy Conference in Evian on Wednesday, Medvedev sought to rebuild friendly ties with Europe even as he laid the blame not just for the financial crisis but for a "crisis of Euro-Atlantic policy" at the feet of a unipolar world order. Calling for more cooperation and dialogue, he was supported by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who urged Russia to join an emergency session of the G8 in order to find a way out of the crisis. The rapport witnessed before the two leaders met one-on-one following the conference suggested that Russia and Europe stood miles away from a new Cold War.

Medvedev outlined a series of steps that could lead the world out of the present malaise, but he also focused on forging a new system of security, arguing that the one created post-Cold War has proven to be a failure. The result, Medvedev said, was the conflict in Georgia and the financial crisis.

"Recent events in the Caucasus have demonstrated that it is impossible to appease or contain an aggressor based on bloc approaches," a grave, yet firm Medvedev said in his address, implicitly addressing the United States. "If irresponsible, adventurous actions by the ruling regime of a small country (Georgia in this particular case) are capable of destabilizing the situation in the world, is this not proof that the international security system based on unipolarity no longer works?

"It is also evident that economic egoism is also a consequence of the unipolar vision of the world and of the desire to be its mega-regulator. It is a dead-end policy in terms of global economic development. I think that the origins of the current situation can be found in the events that took place seven years ago. After the overthrow of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the United States started a chapter of unilateral actions which was not coordinated with the United Nations or even with a number of the United States' partners. It is enough to mention the decision to withdraw from the ABM Treaty and the invasion of Iraq."

Two More Five Point Plans

Echoing a series of fiscal and monetary measures being implemented at home by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Medvedev pointed to regulation as a way out of the financial crisis.

"First, I believe that in these new conditions, we need to streamline and systematize both national and international regulatory institutions," he said. "Second, we need to get rid of the serious imbalance between the amount of issued financial instruments and the real returns on investment programs. The race to compete fuels financial soap bubbles, while public companies' accountability before their shareholders is eroded.

"Third, the risk management system must be strengthened. Each market participant needs to hold responsibility for his share of risks. There should be no illusions about the ability of any asset to rise endlessly in value. The world just does not work this way. It is contrary to economic laws.

"Fourth, we need to ensure maximum information transparency and full disclosure for companies, tighten supervisory requirements and increase the responsibility of rating agencies and audit companies. And finally, fifth, we need to ensure that everyone will reap the benefits of removing barriers to international trade and free movement of capital."

Later in the address, he focused on a new European security treaty as a key alternative the unipolar world order - one bent on eradicating military conflict.

"The Treaty should clearly affirm the basic principles for security and intergovernmental relations in the Euro-Atlantic area. These principles include the commitment to fulfill in good faith obligations under international law; respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of states, and respect for all of the other principles set out in the truly fundamental document that is the United Nations Charter...

"The inadmissibility of the use of force or the threat of its use in international relations should be clearly affirmed. It is fundamental for the Treaty to guarantee uniform interpretation and implementation of those principles...

"It should guarantee equal security, and I mean equal security and not any other kind of security. In this respect we should base ourselves on three ‘no's. Namely, no ensuring one's own security at the expense of others. No allowing acts (by military alliances or coalitions) that undermine the unity of the common security space. And finally, no development of military alliances that would threaten the security of other parties to the Treaty.

"It is important to confirm in the Treaty that no state or international organization can have exclusive rights to maintaining peace and stability in Europe. This applies fully to Russia as well.

"It would be good to establish basic arms control parameters and reasonable limits on military construction. Also needed are new cooperation procedures and mechanisms in areas such as WMD proliferation, terrorism and drug trafficking."

Meanwhile, Medvedev backed Sarkozy's proposal for an enlarged G8 meeting to deal with the financial crisis, but called for a more inclusive organization. "We must include other key economies: China, India, Brazil."

The Evian conference suggested much headway had been made in the Caucasus conflict, which had threatened relations between Russia and Europe since it erupted August 8.

Even while the Wall Street Journal opined Thursday that Medvedev had "dumped a truckload of vitriol" on the US, the conference served to fortify a reconciliation between Russia and Europe in face of criticism over Russia's actions in Georgia.

"Relations between Russia and Europe remain on solid ground," foreign policy expert Sergei Karaganov, speaking by phone from Evian, told The Moscow News. "Attempts to draw Russia into a new Cold War have failed. "Confidence... in America has fallen to a low that has not been experienced since the 20th or even the 19th centuries."  

By Anna Arutunyan