And then there were three
Those who believe in their cause call it the "Alternative Summit"; those who don't, say it's the "Losers' Summit". The meeting today in St Petersburg of Vladimir Putin, Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schr? offers rich material for pundits and historians.
Having done their best to prevent the toppling of Saddam's statuary, Putin, Chirac and Schr? now wish to dress their opposition to the liberation of Iraq in the mantle of statesmanship. But it is a particularly thin garment.
When Chirac and Schr? shake the ex-KGB man's hand today, it will be difficult for them to avoid the fact that many see it as being covered in the blood of Chechens. On 10 April, Human Rights Watch raised the plight of the Chechens with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights:
"In a briefing paper published today for the commission, Human Rights Watch said that abuses by Russia's forces appear to be on the rise. Based on more than fifty interviews conducted in the region in late March, the briefing paper details new cases of extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, and torture."
How will the media blocs in France and Germany, so staunch in the support for their leaders' anti-war stance, spin this one? How would they react if the coalition razed Baghdad like the Russians have razed Grozny? The fact is that Russian policies have so dehumanized Chechnya that, according to this Guardian report of 4 April, "The council of Europe has demanded that a Hague-style war crimes tribunal must be set up by the UN to prosecute key Russian and Chechen leaders as war criminals responsible for systematic murders and disappearances in Chechnya."
Blessed be the peacemakers, but spare us, please, the tender mercies of Putin and his pals.
