fufor's unregelmässige news

Turkish President Abdullah Gul sees new world order
Sunday, 17 August 2008

Turkish President Abdullah Gul predicted “a new world order” of joint international action, in an interview published in Britain on Saturday.

He added that the conflict in Georgia shows the United States can no longer shape global politics on its own, and that it should start sharing power with other nations.

“I don’t think you can control all the world from one centre,” Gul told the Guardian newspaper in an interview.
“There are big nations. There are huge populations. There is unbelievable economic development in some parts of the world.”

“So what we have to do is, instead of unilateral actions, act all together, make common decisions and have consultations with the world. A new world order, if I can say it, should emerge.”

The comments appeared after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited Georgia on Thursday, pledged a regional initiative, looking at issues like economic cooperation and energy supplies.

Erdogan also met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and stressed the “large importance” of regional solidarity. Elsewhere in his interview, Gul said Turkey could play a key role in bridging the gap between Europe and turbulent areas, and that joining the European Union was Ankara’s “main agenda”.

Turkey achieving a free-market economy and high standards of democracy will help influence nations in the Middle East, Central Asia and Caucasus, he added.

“Turkey is having a positive impact on them, spreading the values of democracy, freedom, rule of law,” Gul said. Also the economic changes here... are admired. Maybe that is the indirect influence of this country.”
http://tinyurl.com/66hxn2

Gorbachev: Georgia started conflict in S. Ossetia
Thu August 14, 2008

(CNN) -- Georgian leaders may be blaming Russia for the conflict raging in South Ossetia, but former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said Thursday "there is no doubt" that Georgia provoked the clash.

Gorbachev told CNN's Larry King that Russia moved additional forces into South Ossetia in response to "devastation" in the South Ossetia city of Tskhinvali.

"This was the use of sophisticated weapons against a small town, against a sleeping people. This was a barbaric assault," said Gorbachev, the last president of the former Soviet Union.

But Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who also appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" Thursday, said he was "profoundly shocked" that Mikhail Gorbachev would use a television appearance "for basically vindicating lies and deceptions."

Last week, Georgia said it launched an operation into South Ossetia after a cease-fire was broken with artillery fire from Russian separatists that killed 10 people including civilians and peacekeepers. It accused Russia, which also has peacekeepers in the region, of backing the separatists.

Hours later, the Russian news agency Interfax reported that Russian authorities said 10 Russian peacekeepers had been killed and 30 wounded in an attack by Georgians.

"Western television didn't show what happened in Tskhinvali," Gorbachev said. "Only now they're beginning to show some pictures of the destruction. So this looks to me like it was a well-prepared project. And with any outcome, they wanted to put the blame on Russia." Video Watch Gorbachev discuss "barbaric assault" »

He called Georgia's claims that Russia is attempting to dismantle its democracy "all lies from beginning to end."

In response, Saakashvili expressed disappointment with the sentiments from Gorbachev, who he said he once respected.

"This is the man, Mr. Gorbachev, who helped to, you know, bring down KGB kingdom. And he is the one who is, you know, justifying what the KGB people are doing right now in my country," Saakashvili said.

"Shame on him. Shame on you, Mr. Gorbachev, for perpetuating the very regime you helped to defeat and you fought against as the head of the Soviet Union."
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Gorbachev also said the United States is jeopardizing its fragile relationship with Russia by backing Georgia.

"There is a chance for our two countries to develop a new agenda for cooperation so as to promote both U.S. and Russia interests, and the interests of other countries, and the interests of stability, particularly in the hotspots in different continents," said Gorbachev, who won the Nobel Peace Price in 1990.
http://tinyurl.com/65lnjc