By 2030, over 60% of European gas imports are expected to come from Russia. This creates a strong economic interdependency that is, however, today surrounded by security threats and political mistrust. Much of this tension was on display at the summit between the leaders of Russia and the European Union in Samara on 18 May 2007. Some of it might be dispelled if these leaders - and the media which tracks their every move - paid attention to the issues addressed at another current international gathering: the seventh world assembly of the global non-governmental organisation Civicus in Glasgow on 23-27 May. There, almost 1,000 civil-society organisations will discuss how civil society can improve accountability.
Are the events in Samara and Glasgow connected? Yes. They are both attempts at civilising power. They show the amorphous landscape of global governance; a world increasingly without champions. A central theme of the Civicus assembly is the accountability of NGOs themselves. The need to reinvent accountability, as a positive force for development, has never been more urgent.
Energy security is the driver of European Union-Russia discomfort. Accusations of unaccountability on either side have put high-level diplomacy skills to the test and more likely will result in trade wars aiming to divide and rule the EU's fragile unity. NGOs are rightly perceived to be in a weak position in Russia. Few would argue that their accountability is used as a means of silencing dissent. A controversial "NGO law" has increased the government's oversight over civil society's daily operations.
Russian NGOs too will be travelling to Glasgow, and participating in an international panel organised by AccountAbility to discuss accountability innovations. A new report launched by AccountAbility - Development as Accountability: Accountability Innovators in Action - offers an alternative view of this challenge.
Alejandro Litovsky is senior advisor at AccountAbility.
The report Development as Accountability: Accountability Innovators in Action can be downloaded for free at Accountability.net
The conference Alejandro Litovsky refers to in this article is the 7th world assembly of Civicus, the World Alliance for Citizen Participation, in Glasgow, Scotland, on 23-27 May 2007:
"The CIVICUS World Assembly is a forum for international civil society representatives to get together, exchange ideas, experiences and build strategies for a just world"
An interview with Alejandro Litovsky at the Civicus gathering is here
A lesson from Moscow
The report demonstrates that more collaborative forms of governance are possible between policy-makers, energy companies and civil-society activists when there are processes in place to realise mutual interests, roles and responsibilities. This was a conclusion of a two-day dialogue organised in Moscow by AccountAbility in partnership with the Russian electricity sector holding RAO-UES, the United Metallurgical Company, BP Russia, the World Bank and a consortium of Russian environmental and social NGOs.
Behind Russia's international bullying lies the shadow of a domestic energy crisis, dominated by under-investment in infrastructure, heavily subsidised energy prices and a pervasive energy inefficiency across all sectors of the economy. This delicate balance is financed with the revenues of energy exports to the EU.
Russian businesses and NGOs, producers and consumers, share a concern and are seeking to find ways to work together effectively. How to direct international finance to the Russian energy sector is key. International financial institutions demand accountability, such as stable legal frameworks, in order to invest in long-term projects. The revamp of the electricity sector is one example. Half of Moscow has no energy-metering; energy consumption is set on an unsustainable path and even an energy giant like Gazprom will find it difficult to meet a growing demand at such subsidised prices.
The AccountAbility dialogue in Moscow showed that traditional forms of accountability are unfit for the new challenges of development. We learned how the "effective" accountability mechanisms of the Moscow city government - which are vertical, complex bureaucratic procedures - did not equip public servants with the incentives or the skills to work together with the Russian NGOs and their energy-efficiency proposals, even though they agreed with them.
The report Development as Accountability showcases a range of innovations: energy campaigners in Moscow, Russian business-NGO partnerships creating voluntary environmental standards, an accountability rating of Russian energy companies, local partnerships for energy efficiency in Russian municipalities. All the evidence suggests that building accountability in Russia is about an organic process relying on grassroots innovation and civil-society champions as much as it is about high-level political leadership.
The civil-society task
Civil-society organisations and social movements seeking to build links with other sectors find that traditional forms of institutional accountability need to improve.
For example, a Russian coalition of twenty environmental NGOs is seeking to influence the social and environmental performance of energy companies and projects throughout the Russian Federation. For them, dialogue and mutual accountability for collaboration with businesses and development banks is by far a greater challenge - and opportunity - than just complying with the requirements of their donors.
The NGO coalition brokered a dialogue with the TNK-BP energy partnership. Now a step-by-step approach is being developed in cooperation with the NGOs for the company to meet environmental requirements. Evgeny Shvarts, director of conservation policy at WWF Russia, regards this as an important step forward because "NGOs can track the dialogue constructively and work with local authorities and communities to progressively expand the platform of cooperation around specifically agreed targets." Shvarts cites the controversial Sakhalin-2 project to argue that "as an NGO we don't participate in any dialogue that is not geared to achieve concrete goals."
Working through partnerships, alliances and dialogues requires that NGOs develop new capacities to mediate these linkages with effective and reciprocal ways of practicing accountability. Without better frameworks for collaboration, dialogues soon lead to participation fatigue and frustration
The collaborative test
Delegates from Russia and Europe returning home from Samara are without a doubt wondering how to make accountability work at a time when Russia and the EU need each other. Exploring mutual interests, bringing more stakeholders to the table as a way to link energy challenges, will help broaden the awareness of what is at stake and what solutions are needed.
As with all leaders designing collaborative governance initiatives, the negotiators face a dilemma. Because accountability is seen as being about compliance mechanisms, attention is usually placed on more pressing issues such as putting action-plans quickly in place. But the window of opportunity to build mutual accountability between unequal partners can soon disappear.
There are no simple blueprints for building and scaling up the collaborative initiatives that promote accountability in development . There is a distinct global challenge of improving collaborative frameworks as a new way to think about development decision-making. Creating effective synergies between governments, businesses, development agencies and civil society is key to making accountability a central goal of development.
At the Civicus world assembly, civil-society leaders need to rethink the role they have to play as societal risks, such as energy security and climate change, escalate the politics of conflict and confrontation. It is essential to pay attention to civil-society accountability, both as a matter of principle and because it guarantees their leverage and legitimacy in engaging politicians and businesses.
But in order to lead the way, civil-society organisations need to improve their ability to broker dialogues and champion mutual accountability between stakeholders. Helping improve relations between Europe and Russia is an opportunity for civil-society leadership, at a time when global governance is increasingly defined by the collaborative challenge.
intermedusa said:
Thu, 2007-05-24 19:12
There can be no doubt that President Putin is behind the recent assassinations in Moscow and London. His is the mind that is directing these evil acts with total deniability, of course. What Putin has established in the Kremlin is a Murder Inc. Mafia controlling total political and economic power. Death squads are roaming out from the Kremlin. Anyone who threatens � this power � is eliminated. Just as Russia was about to emerge from 1000 years of darkness, into the light of democratic freedom - Putin and his KGB gang has plunged his people back into the abyss. Quoting the famous Russian writer Vladimir Sorokin �Germans, Frenchmen and Englishmen can say of themselves: "I am the state." I cannot say that. In Russia only the people in the Kremlin can say that. All other citizens are nothing more than human material with which they can do all kinds of things.� This is the Russia, Putin has created. An immoral, lawless wasteland. He is a traitor to his country. He is a traitor to his people.
However all is not yet lost for the EU or the Russian people. The EU must go directly to the Russian people and offer them a different vision of their future � a future of a strong democratic Russia - economically and politically. The success of the EU experiment is absolutely essential for Russia's economic future. A successful and peaceful democratic transformation of Russia is absolutely essential for the EU�s economic future. A true symbyonic relationship. A democratic Russia in an alliance with the EU would create a powerful and stabilizating force for world peace.
It is important to the EU that Russia not be isolated but brought into the European family of nations as a full and equal partner. It was Putin who once stated that he wanted - A Europe WITHOUT BORDERS. The EU must now take Putin up on his offer. The EU must explain to the Russian people that because of the expansion of NATIO and the EU for the first time in a thousand years - Russia is free from invasion from the West. Russian mothers no longer have to bury their sons by the millions due to invasion or leave their dead bodies on European battlefields due to their government alliances with Western countries.
The expansion of the EU through the Enlargement Process and the creation of a Special Free Trade Zone including a privileged partnership with Russia is the only way to guarantee freedom and democracy for Russia and Central Asia and oil/gas supply security for Europe.
THE EUROPEAN AND RUSSIAN DESTINY: DEMOCRACY
The national security of the EU and Russia can only be guaranteed by all countries adopting democracy and the rule of law. Democracies don�t fight other brother democracies. Their people would rather drink beer then make war. Democracy can only be spread through example and formulation of alliances. Its implementation aided through trade, economic aid, and the creation of free trade blocks - never though the use of force. Employing the sword to spread democracy is a true oxymoron.
The EU is one of the most important entities to the success of democracy. Europe is building a country composed of independent nation states. This mission is truly heroic and historic. One of the great success stories in the history of democracy was the EU accession of 10 former Eastern European nations in 2004. One hundred million people brought home to Europe as free and democratic peoples. After two world wars and the death of 110 million people in the space of 30 years � this was a remarkable achievement.
Unfortunately the EU has recently lost its way. The future of both Russia and the EU depends on the successful completion of the European experiment. Brussels in partnership with a democratic Russia must put together an action plan to complete EU expansion and create a free trade zone of democratic nations stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Arctic to the Antarctic (2.4 billion people.) The EU and Russia must fulfill their common destiny � a democratic partnership.
EU Membership Declaration
All nations bordering the EU have a moral right to join provided they meet one of the following 3 criteria:
1. European Country
2. European nation.
3. European people.
Brussels sends letters of invitation to Russia, Belorussia, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia - the Balkan States of Serbia, Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia. These letters of invitation start a 15 year process of moving these nations through the 35 chapters of the legal accession requirements. The final accession agreement with each country will depend on Europe�s economic and political status in 2021. No promises. No guarantees. By placing each of these countries on a path to membership, there will be an immediate flowering of democracy and economy in all these states. Brussels does not have the moral right to deny any of these countries entry (unless they fail in the 35 chapter process). Ukrainians are as European as the French or Germans. To leave the Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova without access to Europe - forcing them into a Russian Empire and loss of their national sovereignty would be a criminal act equal to Munich or the selling out of Eastern Europe to Stalin and the Soviets. A black stain on future European history.
Obviously, Russia will not join the EU. However in the letter of invitation to Russia, Europe should also offer a Super Special Relationship incorporating Russia not only into a NAFTA style free trade agreement but a special political and economic partnership bringing it as a major player into the very heart of Europe. Russia would be allowed to elect delegates to the European Parliament based on 25/40% of its total allotment as if it was a full fledged member. These delegates would participate in all committees, vote on all issues, but with no veto power. Russia cannot and must not be isolated by the West. A full and equal partnership between Russia and the EU must be offered to the Russian people. In return Russia must democratize its political institutions. If the Russian government refuses then Russia will not be able to complain when other nations decide to join. And the EU leaves the offer on the table as a demonstration to the Russian people of a different vision their economic and political future � a vision in direct conflict with Putin�s national repression and domination of its Near Abroad neighbors through energy blackmail.
The strategy is for Brussels to offer Russia an equal partnership in a free trade zone incorporating the Ukraine, Turkey, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the 5 Stan states and Mongolia. This free trade zone would then be joined to NAFTA ( US/Canada/Mexico) creating an economic giant of 1.4 billion people. This giant is then expanded to include South and Central America (2.4 billion). In this free trade zone, Russia, the Stan states, Ukraine, Turkey etc are granted full access to Western markets for trade, investment and technology. The EU is guaranteed energy security � the very essence of the NAFTA Agreement between Canada and the United States. (Canada was given access to the US market and in return Canada guaranteed the US - energy security,)
Through this free trade alliance with guaranteed access to the EU and NAFTA - the Russian economy will be able to break the petrol strangle hold Gasprom etc have over the economy. Growth in the other economic sectors of the Russian economy with access to a market of 1.4 billion plus people will explode.
In this way a Europe without borders living in peace and security can be created stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
EU AND THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF GLOBALIZATION
The West must move immediately to dramatically correct the massive trade imbalances that they have allowed China to accumulate. This means the reallocation of $ 350 billion of production out of China and into third world democratic countries. This would be done over a 10 year period i.e. 35 billion/year. (The United States presently sells $28 billion to China and imports $228billion � a whopping $200 billion deficit. A real sucker�s deal if there ever was one. A sucker�s deal that is devastating the wages and economic future of the American Middle Class. The EU has a deficit of $150 billion. Sucker number 2.) These countries include Mexico, Central and South America, India, and Africa where the US $200 billion share would be shifted. The EU $150 billion - to Romania, Bulgaria, the Balkans, Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia the 5 Stan States. The only stipulation is that these countries must purchase an equivalent amount of high end production from the US and the EU to modernize their economies. In this way everybody wins. The US/EU dramatically reduces their trade deficit. The $200 billion coming back into the US/EU economy in high end technology jobs translates into an $800 billion economic bonanza. An economic bonanza for the besieged Middle Classes of both the US and EU. The benefits of Globalization goes to the needy hard working poor of democratic nations. And the hard working down trodden Middle Classes of the West. The pouring of its trade imbalance with China by the EU into its Near Abroad will dramatically shift the balance of power to democratic forces of the Ukraine, Turkey, the Stan States etc and drastically reduce the costs of the EU eventually absorbing these counties as member states. Globalization becomes a vehicle not to enrich one greedy, criminal state but to benefit the entire third world.
As previously explained - the transfer of trade wealth from the West to the third world and spreading it around comes back to the West through the purchase of high end technology to be used to modernize these third world countries. Trade becomes a tool to spread freedom and democracy - The Democratization of Globalization.
EU, RUSSIA and TURKEY
Another democratic cornerstone of the EU is Turkey�s accession to Europe. It is absolutely essential to the national security of both EU and Russia that Turkey join the European Union. The last thing that the EU and Russia want is a destabilized Turkey � again the Sick Man of Europe � turning to nationalism and Islamic extremism. However we must be honest right from the start � there is no way Turkey will be allowed to join the EU unless a different approach is employed by both sides.
This is the defining moment in Turkish history. Turkey stands at a crossroad � completing its historical move to the West started by Kemal Ataturk in the 1920�s or away from the West and toward political Islam. We must do everything to ensure a Western future for Turkey.
Turkey must first of all realize that even if it was a 99.9% Christian country, the EU would still not want it as a member. Europe suffers from expansion fatigue. A phony disease designed by European politicians to keep others from sharing the economic fruits and power of the EU. After 9/11 and the bombings in Spain and London, and given that Turkey is 99% Moslem this sentiment has only increased. People are scared. Europe fears millions of poor, conservative, uneducated masses pouring across its borders and living on its streets, in its subway systems. Self segregating ghettos. Unwilling to integrate. Hostile to their new homelands. A European Nightmare.
In order to overcome this fear, the following strategy should be implemented:
Turks have to realize that joining the EU involves the Europeanization of Turkey not the Turkization of Europe. A long road started by Ataturk completing the Westernization and secularization of Turkey. Political Islam is rejected.
While Turkey is fulfilling its membership requirements, (an estimated 15 year process) both governments start an educational program whereby every class/ school in Turkey has a corresponding class/school in France, Germany, Austria and Netherlands. In this way through the internet and other means of communication - each Turkey child attending school has a soul mate of similar age in Europe to correspond and grow up with. At least once during the next 15 years, both governments fund entire schools from Turkey traveling to Europe to meet their pen pals and vice versa.
Secondly, Turkey signs the Universal Declaration Of Religious Rights and Freedoms � renouncing all violence in religion, total equality of sexes, religious freedom, equality of all mankind, intellectual freedom and democratic rule of law. (For this declaration go to: www.godofreason.com) Both governments put together a civics class lecture explaining the EU structure, laws, history (European and Turkey), religious non violence, women rights etc. to be taught from first grade thru university to all students.
Upon completion of the 35 chapters, Turkey joins Europe but with the stipulation that the right of migration will be considered only when Turkey�s GDP grows to 85% of the old 15 member states and unemployment is reduced to 9%. A face saving mechanism for both sides. Studies have shown that very few people want to leave their homes unless forced to by a lack of economic opportunity. In a prosperous economy with income and unemployment levels at the stated criteria very few Turks will migrate to Europe. Upon joining - Turkey�s economy will boom and over time rise to a GDP rivaling the original founders. In the meantime, as Europe enters an era of massive labor shortages due to population decline, then Turks with skills needed by industry could apply on a priority basis for special working visas. Only in this way will Turkey be allowed to join. The people�s of France, Austria and the Netherlands who oppose Turkey�s entry should be persuaded by the above arrangement. Turkey joins Brussels with all the rights of membership. The feared right of migration is formalized later when GDP and unemployment criteria are met. By that time very few will want to leave except to visit.
The same formula to be employed for the Ukraine, Georgia etc. to show full equality of treatment.
Finally, to help Turkey resolve its Kurdish minority crisis, the EU sends a delegation to the Kurdish areas of Turkey to explain to them what a European future means and their place in a united democratic Turkey where all their rights are guaranteed. Allocates funds to re- build entire communities ravaged by civil war. (Over one million Kurds were made homeless.) An EU/ Turkey delegation travels to Kurdistan and offers the Kurds - a Special Relationship in Europe just short of actual membership - a special autonomous status - not nation state status. Kurdistan is guaranteed trade access, economic assistance, employment opportunities, education and technology � in short all the benefits of belonging to the EU. In return, they must implement freedom and democracy to all citizens including the Turkmen and Arabs, agree to share the oil wealth of Kurkik and if Iraq does not break apart, then the oil wealth of Kurdistan. And complete the 35 chapters. End the safe haven in the Kurdish mountains for both Kurdish rebels from Turkey and Iran. This special relationship will guarantee the future of Kurds. And remove a big thorn from Turkey�s political life. In this way the EU stabilizes both Turkey and Northern Iraq.
There can be no political correctness applied to Turkey�s membership bid. They must complete all the 35 chapters. And Turks keep their Secular Democratic Republic. In return the EU allows Turkey to join.
THE EU AND THE PALESTINIANS
It is absolutely essential that a solution be found to the Israeli � Palestine conflict. This conflict is a cancer that eats away at the Middle East. The EU has an historical opportunity to bring it to an end. Just as the EU brings freedom and democracy - a European future to the Kurds - so to the EU can bring a European future to Israel and Palestine.
The EU offers both Israeli and Palestinians - a Super Special Relationship � all the benefits of membership except a veto power. Businessmen from both countries will enjoy full access to the EU market - the people of both countries - full access to political institutions, technology, educational institutions, funding, employment etc.
In return, the Palestinians must:
1. Recognize Israel.
2. Cease all attacks.
3. Complete all the 35 chapters.
4. Eventually Jews allowed to live in the West Bank.
Israel must:
1. Withdraw all forces from the West Bank.
2. Dismantle all settlements except the 2 large ones adjacent to the wall.
3. Stop all building in Jerusalem Palestinian areas.
4. Allow East Jerusalem to be Palestinian Capital.
5. Complete all 35 chapters.
6. Eventually Palestinians allowed to live in Israel. (quid pro quo basis)
In order to ensure that terrorists do not smuggle 15,000 rockets into West Bank Cities, the EU/Natio and UN send an army of 10,000 to both the West Bank and Gaza Strip to secure the borders. Although the diehards will never give up their aim of destroying Israel � the Palestinian people by joining with Europe are guaranteeing the future of their children. Businessmen can produce goods and services for a market, not of 4 million but of 500 million and a free trade zone of 1.4 /2.4 billion (3 billion with the Middle East Free Trade Zone). With no violence, the Gaza Strip could become a mini Beirut with multi - billion European investments in tourism and hotels. Its future guaranteed. The Palestinians would have to be mad not to jump at this EU OPPORTUNITY. If they do not then screw them. No more money. No more aid. IT�S TIME FOR TOUGH LOVE PALESTINIAN STYLE.
A peace settlement engineered by the EU dramatically alters the war on terror - the relationship between the West and Islam and democracy throughout the Arab world. The EU takes its historical place in World History.
Time for leadership.
Time for historical greatness.
Time for vision.
CONTACT
Larry Houle
www.eudemocracy.net