SINGAPORE — Big-power rapprochement was high on the agenda in both St. Petersburg, Russia, and Evian, France, this past week a month after U.S. President George W. Bush declared victory in Iraq aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. But how does this rapprochement mesh with perceived American unilateralism?
As a prelude to the Group of Eight developed nations' summit in Evian, Russian President Vladimir Putin invited some 40 world leaders to celebrate the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, whose renaissance is widely seen as the re-emergence of Russia as a world power. Bush met Putin for a bilateral summit and signed the Moscow Treaty, which will reduce nuclear arsenals by two-thirds by 2020.
St. Petersburg also provided the occasion for a summit, centered on North Korea, between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao. Tokyo believes that Beijing holds an important ace card with Pyongyang in resolving the current nuclear standoff.