Bush Blocks Russian WTO Membership at G-8 Summit

In St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) over the week-end, George “LBJ” Bush proved why he doesn’t do diplomacy very often; he’s not any good at it. While sitting in the most beautiful Russian city, as a guest of the Russian president and in need of Russian support to pull his bacon out of the fire in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and North Korea, Mr. Bush blocked Russian membership in the World Trade Organization.

Russia, of course, must join the WTO for its own good, and the rest of the world needs Russia inside the tent at almost any price. It controls far too much energy, and especially, Western Europe’s access to natural gas, for it to stay out. The WTO includes as members countries like the People’s Republic of China (which isn’t even pretending to be a capitalist state), the Kyrgyz Republic (which used to be part of Russia’s empire as the USSR), and Zimbabwe (which doesn’t’ even have an economy, thanks to the criminal administration of Robert Mugabe). Russia easily meets the standards of such members.

However, the White House is never governing under Mr. Bush, it is always campaigning in the next election. The piracy of intellectual property has annoyed the US entertainment industry, and many Democrats have lobbied against Russian membership for that reason. Ignoring for a moment the vast piracy industry of China, it will be easier to crackdown on such piracy if Russia is a member of the WTO than if it is not. However, Mr. Bush doesn't want to seem weak compared to the Democrats on this issue.

Another obstacle has been the financial services industry in Russia. For America, which has given up making stuff in favor of trading things like credit derivatives and collateralized debt obligations, access to Russia’s financial markets is a vital trade issue; however, that problem appears to have been overcome. Instead, the deal failed at St. Petersburg over “the relatively minor issue of safety inspections on US exports of frozen beef and pork,” according to a Reuters interview with Russian Economy Minister German Gref.

There is some urgency, though, to resolve the sticky frozen meat issue. Both the US and Russia hold presidential elections in 2008. “If we don't close the talks next spring we will fall into the election cycle. It will be our last chance,” Minister Gref told Reuters. The thought of Russia outside the WTO for another two or three years is depressing and undermines the west’s energy security.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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