Moscow Times - 06.19.2001

 

 

The Moscow Times

Putin Proves Presentation Is Everything

Most observers probably expected the wily former KGB agent to outsmart the Yale fraternity boy at this weekend's long-awaited summit in Slovenia. But few thought the victory of appearances would be so complete. President Vladimir Putin is, after all, still something of a newcomer to global politics, although he has gotten a lot of practice over the last year. And U.S. President George W. Bush is, after all, supposed to have a much-vaunted team of advisers writing his crib notes.

But there can be little doubt that Russia's president emerged by far the more statesmanly, despite the poor hand that global political and economic circumstances have handed him. And since the brief meeting was always intended to be more symbolic than substantive, such things seem all the more important.

Putin arrived in Ljubljana straight from a successful, orderly and businesslike Central Asian summit in Shanghai, while Bush was no doubt still shaking from the difficult reception he received in Goteborg.

During the meeting, Putin's most memorable moment came when he produced a 1954 document in which the Soviet Union requested admission to NATO and was roundly rejected. With that gesture and by reminding the world that the United States rejected a similar request from Russia just last year, Putin seemed to expose those who claim that NATO is not oriented against Russia and that Moscow has nothing to fear by its expansion right to Russia's borders. It certainly seemed more convincing than Bush's oft-repeated, but ultimately lame assertion that "Russia is no longer America's enemy."

By contrast, Bush's most memorable moment came when he claimed improbably that this brief meeting was sufficient for him to "get a sense of [Putin's] soul." Obviously, this came as quite a surprise to those of us who have been trying to figure Putin out ever since he emerged on the national stage.

Then, after holding Bush's hand through some more awkward gaffes in the concluding news conference, Putin jetted off to Belgrade and even put in a surprise visit to Kosovo. When Putin joined Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica in calling for a regional security conference, he seemed to be taking a hands-on and inclusive approach to an intractable problem that contrasted favorably with Bush's record of endlessly studying issues and then acting unilaterally.

A summit, of course, is not a debate or a boxing match and there is no need to declare a winner. Which is just as well, since it wouldn't be very diplomatic to point out that Putin won by knockout.