Jun 6, 2007 7:52 am US/Central
Bush: 'Russia Is Not An Enemy' (CBS News) HEILIGENDAMM, Germany
President Bush on Wednesday discounted Vladimir Putin's threat to re-target missiles on Europe, saying "Russia is not going to attack Europe."
Mr. Bush, in an interview with The Associated Press and other reporters, said that no U.S. military response was required after Putin warned that Russia would take steps in response to plans to deploy a U.S. missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.
"Russia is not an enemy," Mr. Bush said, sitting in a sun-drenched garden in the resort town hosting the Group of Eight summit Wednesday. "There needs to be no military response because we're not at war with Russia. Russia is not a threat."
Mr. Bush and Putin will meet later Wednesday at the opening of the summit of industrialized nations. Asked if he anticipated a tense encounter, Mr. Bush replied: "Could be. I don't think so ... I'll work to see that it's not a tense meeting."
Putin had rattled nerves in Europe with his weekend declaration that he would retarget missiles on Europe in response to the missile defense shield. "I don't think Vladimir Putin intends to attack Europe," Mr. Bush said.
The meeting, in this picturesque vacation town on the Baltic coast, already has been the subject of violent protests: Weekend rioting in nearby Rostock was called Germany's worst in decades as anti-globalization protesters hurled rocks and bottles at police.
Germany has deployed 16,000 police and have forbidden demonstrations within a four-mile radius of the summit location. In addition, there is seven miles of fences with razor wire surrounding the resort, CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante.
Mr. Bush talked with reporters for nearly an hour, touching on subjects from global warming to Iran, the suffering in Darfur to the war in Iraq. The president said he would like to see other countries follow the United States in taking steps against the government of Sudan to stop the misery in Darfur.
"I'm frustrated because there are still people suffering and the U.N. process is moving at a snail's pace," Mr. Bush said.
Mr. Bush is seeking a U.N. resolution to apply new international sanctions against the Sudanese government. It would include an expanded embargo on arms sales to Sudan, prohibit Sudan's government from conducting offensive military flights over Darfur and strengthen the U.S. ability to monitor and report any violations.
On climate change, Mr. Bush said he would not give ground on global warming proposals that would require mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, he backed his own proposal to have the United States and other nations that spew the most greenhouse gases meet and - by the end of next year - set a long-term strategy for reducing emissions.
Mr. Bush's plan addresses "life after" 2012, the expiration date for the Kyoto Protocol, which the United States didn't sign.
The Kyoto Protocol, signed in Japan in 1997, requires industrialized nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions 5 percent from 1990 levels by 2012. The U.S. signed but did not ratify the protocol because it imposed no emissions cuts on developing countries such as China and India.
Mr. Bush wants to bring India, China and other fast-growing countries to the negotiation table. He envisions that each country will set goals on how they want to improve energy security, reduce air pollution and cut greenhouse gases in the next 10 to 20 years.
"The United States can serve as a bridge to help find a solution," Mr. Bush said.
He said that the G-8 summit, running Wednesday through Friday, would produce a consensus for a post-Kyoto framework after the landmark treaty expires in 2012.
Mr. Bush was to meet Wednesday - before the summit begins - with Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has insisted she would like to reach agreement with the other seven G-8 leaders on having the United Nations oversee the establishment of a future pact on curbing global warming.
Merkel also plans to meet other leaders individually before the summit's official opening Wednesday evening, and began with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a Japan-EU summit in Berlin on Tuesday.
"We agree that we need a reduction target under which we say that we want to halve, or even more than halve, CO2 emissions by the middle of the century," Merkel said after the meeting.
Abe noted that "we naturally cannot neglect energy stability and economic growth in solving climate change." As for the hoped-for 50 percent reduction in emissions by 2050, he said that should be measured "from the current point in time."
Talks with Italian Premier Romano Prodi, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Russian President Vladimir Putin also are scheduled.
But skepticism was evident. A gap remains between Merkel's insistence on binding reductions and Mr. Bush's plan to have top polluters set an overall goal but decide themselves how much to do.
"No further meetings are necessary if Bush wants to agree (on) climate targets with 'major emitters,"' said Daniel Mittler, an international climate policy expert with Greenpeace. "Bush should simply sign up to what is necessary this week: Halving global emissions by 2050, compared to 1990 levels."
But a top German official, speaking on condition of anonymity at a background briefing, said the fact that the U.S. and other countries have recently made announcements on combating climate change is a good sign.
"We welcome the fact that they're all being issued in the run-up to our summit," he said. "I think it can be seen as a success of the summit even before it starts."
The meeting also is a coming-out party of sorts for Sarkozy and Abe, who will be making their first appearances at a major global event. The summit also marks a milestone for Blair, who is stepping down June 27 after more than 10 years as prime minister.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. )
"There needs to be no military response because we're not at war with Russia," said President George W. Bush.
President George W. Bush (File)
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
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