KUWAIT CITY - "We live in a new political landscape made possible by the fall of the Berlin Wall, the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the revolutions that took place in the former Soviet bloc. These events presented opportunities that were unfathomable just 20 years ago," says American Ambassador to Kuwait Deborah Jones. Jones was speaking at a seminar held by Kuwait University on the 20th anniversary of the fall of Berlin Wall. Jones went on to say "Ambassador Al-Sharikh and others here have alluded to the linkages between the 'fall of the wall' and Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. US Secretary of State James Baker noted recently that for him, the 'end-of-the-Cold-War moment' came on Aug 3, 1990, when he stood together with his Soviet counterpart, Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, in the lobby of a Moscow airport, to jointly denounce Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. Iraq under Saddam had been a Soviet client state. At that moment, however, Secretary Baker notes, 'the United States and the Soviet Union were allies on a matter of war for the first time since the end of World War II.' Indeed, for the United States, the 'fall of the wall' marked the beginning of the end of our enmity with the Soviet Union, and the beginning of our friendship with Russia."
Stating that American President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced several landmark developments in their bilateral relationship last June, including shared concern over Afghanistan which, Jones pointed out, "is a challenging situation Russia understands well." After enumerating a number of agreements between the two presidents, Jones stressed "in many respects, the fall of the Berlin Wall signaled a significant step toward the reconciliation of Europe following what was in effect a civil war that began with World War I." Jones added "other World War I legacies, for example the question of Yugoslav succession, and a number of historical issues concerning the Middle East, most notably the question of Israel and Palestine, are yet to be resolved. No longer under the shadow of the Cold War, we recognize that the only way to face the spectacular array of challenges before us - whether in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia or elsewhere -- is with partners."
"Similarly, there are perhaps those who cannot today imagine a comprehensive Middle East peace. But I look to the example of the Berlin Wall and I rely on the imagination and optimism and persistence of human beings, and younger generations of diplomats, to envision and implement what we cannot now conceive. Meanwhile, our task remains to continue to lay the groundwork for these larger, even spectacular objectives, as Gorbachev observed: seeking reconciliation in small steps and tiny concessions," Jones concluded. In another report, it is important to strengthen the relations among the Gulf and European Union (EU) states, said Head of the Euro-Gulf research unit D. Mona Ali Al-Mohammad. The statement by Al-Mohammad, who is a professor at the department of political science of Kuwait University (KU), came during a seminar held by the unit on the 20th anniversary of the fall of Berlin Wall.
She said, "Although we have strong ties with the EU member state, we still need to build firmer bridges between us and our European friends, particularly the Eastern European friends, to facilitate the transformation of the cultural and social activities and increase the cultural understanding and awareness between both sides." That could be done through different means, but the most important one is through educational institutions, particularly through the unit, in collaboration with other political and educational institutions of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the EU, she said. She called for melting down all the barriers that block the way towards improvement and strengthening the social relations between the people of the GCC and the people of Europe. Al-Mohammad expressed her gratitude to Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah for sponsoring the seminar and for the ambassadors of Austria, Germany, and Poland for contributing in sponsoring and organizing the event.
© Arab Times 2009
