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Obama summoned to Washington the heads of the Baltic countries
August 13, 2013 · 0 Comments
The presidents of the Baltic States – Dalia Grybauskaite (Lithuania), Andris Berzins (Latvia) and Toomas Hendrik Ilves (Estonia) – the honor of being accepted on 30 August at the White House by U.S. President Barack Obama. “The meeting of wholesale” was planned even before the scandal with Snowden and cancel the Moscow visit of the American leader. Now, in light of the new circumstances, the degree of anti-Russian Baltic US-bye is explicitly promoted, experts say.
According to the White House, the meeting “will discuss cooperation in the framework of NATO, military issues, energy and cyber security in the region, to negotiate a free trade agreement between the EU and the United States.”
– The leaders of the Baltic states are famous for their rusofobstvo. When Obama was planning a meeting with them, he still had no idea it would be forced to cancel your trip to Moscow, – says CEO of the Center for Current Politics Sergei Mikheyev. – But his advisers are still fully aware that its conduct preceded the event. As well, and the G20 summit in St. Petersburg (5-6 September).
According to experts, this approach expresses a general idea of American policy – the White House a few years interpret that came some new era in US-Russian relations, which changed everything. And in fact, Americans’ reproduce the logic of the Cold War, the logic of deterrence. “
– Baltic – is essentially a new cordon to contain Russia, and the Americans have patronized – says Mikheyev.
Obama himself has never been in any of these countries, although at the helm for the second time. By the way, in recent years, representatives of the region rarely awarded individual audiences in the White House. It was the former Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, a U.S. citizen and former Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga, a citizen of Canada.
Originally, the “Baltic appointment» Obama will hold the eve of the summit scheduled for November “Eastern Partnership” in Vilnius, which is planned despite the negative reaction from Moscow, an agreement with Ukraine on association with the EU. According Fellow of the Institute of Strategic Studies, Alexander Sytin, United States intended to “raise the status of this forum.”
– I think that the American president wants to show that the Baltic countries – this is not some province, and the real players – the expert believes. – It is important to do, from the point of view of the Americans, to the words of the Baltic states to listen carefully in Kiev, Chisinau and Tbilisi, gave them greater importance.
One time, recalled Sytin, this function was performed in Poland, but then she persists. Now the “advocates” of the countries included in the program “Eastern Partnership” are the Baltic states – especially as preparation Vilnius Summit coincided with the presidency of Lithuania to the EU.
– Despite the fact that the United States seeks to elevate the importance of the Baltic states, there is an inconsistency – at least in terms of diplomatic protocol. Americans taking the presidents wholesale, still voluntarily or involuntarily show that treat them as partners in the second grade – said Sytin. – But they are, I believe, do not notice it. Or pretend not to notice.
Sergei Mikheyev generally feel that a line that “Washington shows respect to its Baltic younger brothers – is a form of neo-feudalism.”
– Vassals travel across the ocean to worship lord and bring gifts – he concluded.
Nothing more, in his opinion, can not be explained very controversial decision that took Latvia and Lithuania. In Vilnius, the Court of Appeal began its consideration of complaints from lawyers on the decision to give the United States a suspected arms dealer Russian citizen Dmitry Ustinov. A Riga hurry to send its citizens to the United States, Dennis Chalovskaya hacker accused of cybercrimes. It is noteworthy that his extradition temporarily halted the European Court of Human Rights, promising to provide decent protection.
Automatically translated from Russian
By myfuamerica
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