Bush, counterparts, agree to disagree

by Mark Silva

In the parlance of diplomacy, there are carefully minced words and clearly coded words. But in his meetings with the new president of Russia and the leader of the African Union today in Japan, President Bush and his counterparts chose neither.

They settled on simple words like "differ" and "disagreement.''

While both Bush and President Kikwete of Tanzania, the AU leader, agreed that the state of affairs in Zimbabwe pose a problem - Bush called the elections there a "sham'' - they presented, in public, a clear disagreement on the question of sanctions.

And while both Bush and President Medvedev of Russia agreed on the need to contain the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, they presented, in public, a clear disagreement on the ambitions of the Bush administration to build a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe to guard against the threat of "rogue'' nations such as Iran - a U.S.-proposed missile battery in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic.

Bush also made it clear that he is not done working on any of this. As he told his Russian counterpart: "I reminded him that, yes, I'm leaving, but not until six months and I'm sprinting to the finish.''

Bush did acknowledge, in public, that Medvedev is "a smart guy,'' while declining to go deeper into the sort of analysis that he had volunteered after his famous look into the eyes of Medvedev's predecessor, former President Putin. This was the first time Bush and Medvedev had met as presidents.

"I'm not going to sit here and psychoanalyze the man,'' Bush told reporters at a fog-shrouded summit of leaders of the Group of Eight nations in the rainy mountains of Japan, "but I will tell you that he's very comfortable, he's confident, and that I believe that when he tells me something, he means it.

"Sometimes in politics people tell you one thing and mean another,'' Bush said, with an assessment that he has made of several world leaders. " My judgment is that when he tells you something he means it, and that's going to be good for the world leaders to have somebody that -- you may not agree with what he tells you, but at least you know it's what he believes.''

It wasn't clear, however, what Kikwete meant about Zimbabwe. The African Union leader joined other African leaders in meetings with leaders of the G-8 nations, as they have during summits past, on this rainy day in Toyako.

"You know, I care deeply about the people of Zimbabwe,'' Bush said. "I am extremely disappointed in the elections, which I labeled a "sham" election.  And we, of course, listened very carefully. And President Kikwete, as the head of the AU, has been very involved in this issue. I'm not going to put words in his mouth, he can express his own self...

"Well,'' said Kikwete, who also plans to visit the White House in August, "of course we see eye-to-eye on many international issues. Of course we have discussed the issue of Zimbabwe, where we understand your concerns. But I want to assure you that the concerns that you have expressed are indeed the concerns of many of us in the African continent. At the last summit of the African Union, many leaders expressed their dissatisfaction at the way things happened. But also we agreed on the way forward.

"The only area that we may differ is on the way forward,'' Kikwete said.

"You see differently, but for us in Africa we see differently. But I think again, there is still room for us for discussions. We are saying no party can govern alone in Zimbabwe, and therefore the parties have to work together to come up to -- to come out, work together, in a government, and then look at the future of their country together.

"So this is the way we see it. I don't think there is much, the divergence there. You would have liked to see us do a bit -- some things, we would have liked to see you do some things. But we'll continue to discuss all these issues, and as friends at the end of the day we'll come to an understanding.''

Bush, who made a point of reminding all that he still has six months to go as president, said his meetings with Medvedev had been fruitful.

"It's the first time Dmitry and I met since he has become president of his big country, and we had a good discussion,'' Bush said. "We talked about Iran; we talked about a variety of issues. And while there's some areas of disagreement, there's also areas where I know we can work together for the common good.

"I found him to be a smart guy who understood the issues very well,'' Bush said of Medvedev. "But I'm not surprised. After all, he has been very close to foreign policy issues up until his ascendancy to the presidency.''

Medvedev said: "There are certain questions on our agenda where we agree, and these are the matters pertaining to Iran, North Korea. But then certainly there are others with respect to European affairs and missile defense where we have differences. We would like to agree on these matters, as well, and we also feel very comfortable in our dealings with George.''