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Medvedev lashes out at US hegemony

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 05:24:51 GMT
Russia's President has slammed America's global dominance saying all nations have the right to
remark on the policies of a state whose actions affect the world.

Speaking at the opening of a global security conference in the central Russian city of Yaroslavl on
Monday, Dmitry Medvedev said those problems of one country, have the potential to lead to
international conflict.

"This happens immediately and incompetence and reluctance to solve one's own problems inflict
damage not only to your country but to a huge number of other countries," he added.

The Russian president also lashed out at what he thought the "ill-thought-out" policies of a
country that led to the global financial melt down.

Medvedev did not refer to the United States by name but the target of his comments was clear.

His remarks came shortly before the US President Barack Obama delivered a key speech in New
York, where he described the global economic crisis as Washington and Wall Street's "collective
failure".

Earlier in March the Kremlin had suggested that the international community should have a say
when the world's richest countries make decisions with global implications.

Medvedev's comments further developed those ideas, attacking efforts by any party to advance
what he called "utopian projects of global supremacy … 'Global Caliphate' or 'Benevolent
Hegemony'".

There can be no "high-flown justification for military adventures, suppression of rights and
freedoms -- of any illegal activities," he stressed.

The Russian leader also took aim at US criticism of Russia's domestic political situation, insisting
that Russia was committed to democracy but would not necessarily pursue it in ways prescribed
by other states.

Medvedev and Obama are both to attend a G20 summit to be held later this month in the US city
of Pittsburgh, where the Russian leader is to continue to push for a sweeping overhaul of world
financial regulations.

The Yaroslavl conference was attended by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
and French counterpart Francois Fillon.

FF/DT

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