NEW THINKING ON EAST-WEST ISSUES
27.04.2007Almaty. Kazakhstan, April 2007 – How much can a three-day conference contribute to new thinking on international affairs?
Delegates to the sixth annual Eurasian Media Forum (EAMF), which has just concluded in Almaty, would argue that the answer must be: ‘a great deal’ – judging by the results of this unique East-West encounter.
In the words of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who opened the event on April 19: “The significance of the Forum is obvious to everyone: it has become the most prominent venue for dialogue in Eurasia, enabling politicians, public figures and journalists to ask difficult questions of each other…”
Prominent participants this year included former president Mohammad Khatami of Iran, former Prime Minister Eugenie Primakov of Russia, two rival American strategists, Richard Holbrooke (Democrat) and Richard Perle (Republican), and a controversial British Member of Parliament, George Galloway.
The agenda was packed with the most topical issues that have been making the world news headlines in recent months. The nuclear dilemma posed by Iran and North Korea, the military challenges in Afghanistan and Iraq, nation-building and security in the post-Soviet world, pipeline politics and energy supplies – these and other critical themes came under the EAMF spotlight.
The conference hall in a leading Almaty hotel was filled with over 500 government leaders, senior media representatives and experts from East and West.
The result was a far-ranging debate about both the substance of East-West issues and about the different ways in which they are handled by the media in the Eurasian landmass and beyond.
“Where else can you find such a diversity of thoughts and ideas?” Dr. Dariga Nazarbayeva, founder of the Forum, asked in her closing address on April 21.
Here are some of the conference highlights:
The Nuclear Dilemma
Almaty, Kazakhstan, April 2007 – Iran has a sovereign right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes – and has no intention of developing nuclear weapons.
This is the clear policy position of Iran as expressed by former president Mohammad Khatami, speaking at the recent sixth Eurasian Media Forum (EAMF) in Almaty.
The development of nuclear energy technology was justified because Iran’s oil would not last for ever and the use of fossil fuels damaged the environment, he said, answering questions in a panel interview session.
Iran, like any other country, had the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but no country had the right to acquire nuclear weapons, he said.
“Iran never intends to acquire such nuclear weapons,” Khatami declared. Later he repeated: “Iran has no nuclear weapons programme.”
The Iranian leader advocated a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East and an end to double standards – which several other speakers said the West applied in dealing with Israel and its suspected nuclear capability.
Khatami also called for improved dialogue to end a “wall of misunderstanding” between Iran and the United States, but added: “Some people in both our countries do not want good relations.”
Richard Holbrooke, a former American Assistant Secretary of State, welcomed Khatami’s statement but said there must still be a high degree of scepticism about Iran’s true intentions.
Richard Perle, a former US Assistant Secretary of Defense, said later in the conference that it would be nave to accept Iran’s assurances that it would never develop nuclear weapons. Its behaviour so far had created “an enormous cloud of suspicion,” he said.
Former Russian Prime Minister Eugenie Primakov said he believed Iran’s assertion that it would not develop nuclear weapons, but wanted to acquire the capability to do so in order to be taken seriously in the world.
He blamed the Iranian regime for arousing suspicion by its behaviour on the nuclear issue, but said Russia was categorically opposed to the use of force against Iran.
“The result would be much worse than in Iraq,” he said, adding that such action would draw in many other forces and affect the stability of the whole world.
In his opening speech to the conference, President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan also warned against any military attack on Iran.
“I am convinced that the use of force against such a country as Iran would have a big impact on the entire world,” he declared.
“We hope that Iran, our friendly neighbour, will manage to convince the world that it is only engaged in research to develop its peaceful atomic energy policy.”
Arguing in favour of ‘global common sense’, President Nazarbayev recalled that Kazakhstan had voluntarily dismantled the world’s fourth largest arsenal of nuclear weapons which was located on its territory after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“We call on other countries to follow our example,” he said. “And above all we call on those countries that are trying to acquire nuclear weapons.”
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STRATEGIC USE OF FORCE CONDEMNED AT EAST-WEST TALKS
Almaty, Kazakhstan, April 2007 – American and Western use of force in international relations, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, came under vigorous attack at an East-West conference in Almaty.
Many delegates to the sixth annual Eurasian Media Forum (EAMF) deplored what they described as a growing tendency to resort to violence to settle international disputes.
“Unfortunately, threats and violence are still the dominant language in the political sphere,” former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami told the conference.
Calling for more creative dialogue between opposing parties, he said nations should “distance themselves from the logic of force and embrace the force of logic.”
The Iranian leader recalled that he had issued a similar appeal to the first EAMF conference in 2002, which he attended as keynote speaker when he was Iranian head of state.
Former Russian Prime Minister Eugenie Primakov said he did not believe the United States had deliberately set out to create conflict and division in Iraq, but its use of force had turned out to be ineffectual and had led to tragedy.
“As a result Iraq has become one of the main platforms for Al-Qaeda development,” he said.
Despite this Russia was not in favour of an immediate withdrawal of coalition troops, which would lead to a power vacuum. The Iraqi government needed to be strengthened and American troops replaced by an inter-Arab force, he said.
Defending American policy, Richard Perle (Republican) said he believed that the decision to remove Saddam Hussein had been right, but he agreed that it had been a mistake “to allow the liberation of Iraq to become an occupation.”
The United States had not acted out of any kind of imperial ambition, nor in the mistaken belief that Americans alone could achieve the reconstruction of the country.
“Only the Iraqis can do that,” Perle said.
Richard Holbrooke (Democrat) said the continuing conflict in Iraq was a tremendous problem which the Bush administration had not foreseen. President George W Bush now admitted the problem would not be solved before he left office.
Two thirds of Americans were now opposed to the war in Iraq and wanted the government to withdraw US forces.
“This is not possible,” Holbrooke said. “Responsible leaders on both sides (of the US Congress) recognise that it would make the situation much worse…Precipitate withdrawal of American forces would have huge consequences.”
Holbrooke added that the security situation had not gone well in Afghanistan either, but said a significant increase in American efforts there could be expected.
In a separate session examining the results of US and Western intervention in Afghanistan, a majority of the audience voted in favour of a resolution concluding that the US-led United Nations effort had failed to achieve its objectives.
Richard Perle said there had been a problem of lack of resources for the Afghan operation, despite the considerable efforts of the US and the UK and a small number of other western countries.
“Where are the wealthy Arab states?” he asked.
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AMERICAN WALK-OUT AT EAST-WEST CONFERENCE
Almaty, Kazakhstan, April 2007 – Senior American delegate Richard Holbrooke walked out on George Galloway, a controversial British Member of Parliament, as an East-West conference session turned sharply anti-American.
Discussing American policy in Iraq, Galloway accused the United States of totally destroying an ancient Arab country.
Israel was the only power that had gained from the invasion of Iraq and now it wanted to take action against Iran to protect its own undeclared nuclear ambitions, he said.
Holbrooke said he was disappointed that every anti-American statement at the conference was greeted with applause, whereas the United States supported the United Nations and was the greatest single supplier of international aid. This in turn won a round of applause from the audience.
As Galloway started to ask the audience why they were applauding, Holbrooke got up and walked off the stage with a dismissive wave in the British politician’s direction.
“That’s totally out of order,” Galloway shouted after him. Holbrooke returned to the conference later, after Galloway’s departure.
At the closing session, Dariga Nazarbayeva, chair of the organising committee, expressed regrets to the US delegates for the anti-American feelings expressed at the conference.
“I applaud their bravery,” she said, adding that she was pleased that the conference had given the Americans a chance to express their views and defend their policies.
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THE HOLOCAUST – FACT OR…?
Almaty, Kazakhstan, April 2007 – The Holocaust was a terrible example of ethnic cleansing that must be condemned, former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami told a conference in Kazakhstan.
He was responding to a call by Richard Holbrooke, former US Assistant Secretary of State, for Iran to recognise the historical fact of the Holocaust and the six million victims of the Nazi regime in Germany, which the current Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has refused to accept.
“Nothing has done more damage to Iran’s reputation than Ahmedinejad’s inexplicable attitude on this issue,” Holbrooke said.
Khatami said later in the same session: “The Holocaust is a reality, one of the sad realities of history, one of the most terrible disasters, committed by Nazi Germany in the Second World War, whose victims included many non-Jews.
“It is an example of ethnic cleansing that must be condemned, together with all forms of anti-Semitism,” he declared.
Khatami said there was no anti-Semitism in Islam and asked why the Palestinian people should still suffer because of the policies of the Nazis.
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