France&Germany do their own reset with Russia

[tufta]

Why not follow Mr.Obama? Medvedev meets Sarkozy and Merkel for security talks. As you can guess Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estionians, Belarusans, Ukrainians, Romanians, Moldovians, Hungarians, Slovaks and Czechs are simply enchanted and fascinated! ;D


>>

By RFI

France is giving Russia special treatment at the seaside resort of Deauville with dinner Monday evening, ahead G20 talks in South Korea this week. Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev is to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss a pan-European security partnership.

“We will discuss whether it is possible for Russia and Nato to cooperate better because the era of the Cold War is definitely offer,” Merkel said on Saturday.

"The Russian president has proposed a common security architecture. He is working step-by-step to define this architecture - of course in a spirit of partnership of all European countries with Russia," she said.

No big announcements are expected, but the get-together takes places a month before Nato allies meet to agree on their new security vision, and days before a G20 summit.

Some Nato allies, especially former Soviet satellites, were irritated they were not invited to Monday's meeting, concerned that France and Germany would meet with what they see as a difficult neighbour.

Diplomats, however, say Russia has recently shown signs it wants to cooperate with the West. French officials refer to Russia’s signing of a new nuclear arms reduction treaty with the US and its application of the latest sanctions against Iran as examples of this.

In Moscow, Medvedev’s top foreign policy expert confirmed that closer ties with Nato would be on the agenda at Deauville.

Later this week G20 countries will meet up in South Korea, where they are expected to discuss currency reform amid fears nations could adopt trade barriers in the face of competition with Asian exports."<<

[Bonobo]

Oct 19, 2010 20:57:35 GMT 1 tufta said:

“We will discuss whether it is possible for Russia and Nato to cooperate better because the era of the Cold War is definitely offer,” Merkel said on Saturday.

Nothing new. The same old song - the West tries to civilise Russia by all means to reduce or even eliminate the danger (even at the cost of Russia`s neighbours), while Russians still view the West`s attempts with suspicion and contempt and only pretend they are willing to cooperate and practice the policy of love.

This strategy has been played so many times before.

One day their paths will cross, I am sure. It may take decades, though.

[tufta]

Very well said!

[tufta]

>>Seen from Slovakia
A new German-French imperialism

Exclusive summit meetings like that took place this week in the northern French town of Deauville between Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel and Dmitry Medvedev arouse suspicion, writes political scientist Jana Kobzová of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Multi-polar Europe must not be lead in an imperial manner by its major powers, Kobzová comments in the liberal daily SME: "Deauville made a name for itself in the 19th century as a seaside resort at a time when the powerful states had divided Europe into spheres of influence. The meeting reminds one of such arrangements between the powerful, of Bismarck and Talleyrand. ... Europe today ... faces problems for which it lacks a solution mechanism. There's no shortage of topics for discussion. The question that remains, however, is what will change for Europe's security after this discussion in Deauville to which the leaders of France, Germany and Russia invited neither 90 percent of the states of Europe nor the increasingly important player Turkey. ... The problem is not just the meeting in Deauville, but also the trend we're seeing. The EU threatens to return to the times when it was divided among the spheres of influence of Europe's major powers. Nothing good for the multi-polar continent can come of that."<<

komentare.sme.sk/c/5603156/prizraky-europskeho-koncertu.html

[tufta]

>>The game change at Deauville
22 October 2010 Financial Times London

The security summit at Deauville, France, saw the first inklings of a new European geopolitical order. Instead of an EU buttressed by a NATO expanding eastwards comes a "trilateral" Europe, sustaining Turkey's European ambitions and keeping Russia on board.
Ivan Krastev - Mark Leonard

The security summit this week between Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel and Dmitry Medvedev was always likely to be a non-event. France wanted something spectacular, Germany something reasonable, Russia something it could trade. So, the chances of a meeting of minds were slim. But the gathering at Deauville in northern France could turn out to be a non-event with consequences. When historians look back, this may be seen as the moment when leaders faced up to the fact that they are living in a multipolar Europe.

The very fact that the summit was held marks an end to the European Union’s solipsism. During the 1990s, many thinkers believed that Europe was becoming a “postmodern” continent, which no longer relied on a balance of power. National sovereignty and the separation of domestic and foreign affairs were deemed much less important. The EU and Nato would gradually expand until all European states were bound into this way of doing things. Until recently, it looked like that was happening. Central and eastern Europe were transformed, Georgia and Ukraine saw displays of pro-western people power, and Turkey moved steadily towards accession.

But now the prospects for this unipolar European order are fading. Russia, which was never comfortable with Nato or EU enlargement, is powerful enough to call openly for a new security architecture. Turkey, frustrated by the way in which some EU states have blocked membership negotiations, is increasingly pursuing an independent foreign policy and looking for a larger role. Add to this the fact that the US – its hands full dealing with Afghanistan, Iran and the rise of China – has ceased to be a full-time European power and you can see the multipolar Europe looming. Read full article at the European Council of Foreign Relations site... <<