RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: U.S. UNDERMINING INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.10.2008 17:37 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The United States’ self-styled role as the world’s
dominant power was undermining international security, Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev said in addressing the World Policy
Conference in Evian, France.

"A desire by the United States to consolidate its global domination
led to it missing a historical chance … to build a truly democratic
world order," Medvedev said of U.S. actions since the Sept. 11 attacks
in 2001.

He said Russia’s war with Georgia in August showed that the security
mechanism in Europe, which he said was based around NATO and the
United States, needed a major overhaul.

The Kremlin leader proposed a new security pact that would ban the
use of force or the threat of its use, and would make clear no single
country, including Russia, would have a monopoly on providing security
for the continent.

In an unusually emotional speech, Medvedev said the United States
passed up an historical chance for a new partnership after the Sept. 11
attacks on U.S. cities, when Moscow offered to join Washington in
fighting terrorism.

But the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and Washington’s plans to station
elements of a missile defense shield in eastern Europe – a project
fiercely opposed by Moscow – scotched that partnership, Medvedev said.

"After toppling the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the United States
started a series of unilateral actions," he said. "As a result, a
trend appeared in international relations towards creating dividing
lines. This was in fact the revival of a policy popular in the past
and known as containment."