India continues to play coy in order to maximize its return:
India and Russia are planning to hold an unprecedented business summit in February next year to explore ways to boost bilateral trade to $10 billion in coming three years, Indian ambassador Kanwal Sibal has said here.
We, on the other hand, get strung along with vague promises from Russia:
Russia and the United States could sign next year a civil atomic energy deal that would increase nuclear cooperation between the former Cold War foes, a senior Russian nuclear official said on Wednesday.
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“In the first quarter of 2007 or maximum by the summer of 2007, some sort of agreement will be signed between Russia and the United States,” said Vladimir Smirnov, the head of Russia’s state-run run Tekhsnabexport (Tenex), RIA news agency reported.
But we are pushing Russia on the neighbors front:
The head of NATO says the organization’s moves to strengthen ties with Ukraine and Georgia are not meant as a slight against Russia.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said during an interview with Russia’s Interfax news agency that NATO’s expanded contact with Ukraine and Georgia comes at the behest of the leaders of those countries. He said the organization is seeking to strengthen ties between the two countries and Russia as it strengthens ties between the countries and itself.
And Russia denies China technology while embracing it economically and militarily:
Russia will co-operate with China on space projects, but will not transfer sensitive technologies that could enable Beijing to become a rival in a future space race, the head of Russia’s space agency said yesterday.
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Russia sold China the technology that formed the basis of its manned space program, which launched its first astronaut in 2003 and two others in 2005.
This goes back to the previous post, which talked about the various types of global battlefronts. Russia wants China as an ally and desperately needs Chinese cash, so they’ll try to maximize their interaction while minimizing technology transfer. Of course we should ask about this cooperation on space projects:
Speaking about international cooperation in Moon exploration, the Russian space chief said Russia will not join the U.S. in its program, but will develop its own unmanned exploration techniques.
“Russia will study the Moon using unmanned methods, meaning with the help of robotic equipment,” Perminov said. “We are fully cooperating with China in this area.”
Blowing off the US in favor of the Chinese, eh? What a surprise. I keep wondering when the Bush administration will get a clue and start treating the Russians like the Decepticons they are.
