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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Michael Hirsh

Aired September 28, 2003 - 11:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is expected to press ahead with his appeal for more international support in rebuilding Iraq, despite a setback this weekend. His summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin produced no promise of Russian troops or money. But when yesterday's talks wrapped up, President Bush appeared pleased with his chance to sit down with the Russian leader.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our goal is to bring the U.S./Russian relationship to a new level of partnership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHOI: President Putin opposed the war in Iraq and he says Russia's involvement will depend on a new resolution being considered by the U.N. Security Council.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The degree and the extent and level of Russia's participation in the restoration of Iraq will be determined after we know the parameters of the resolution, of the new resolution ,on Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHOI: And Michael Hirsh of "Newsweek" magazine is in Washington to talk more about the summit and what it did and did not accomplish.

Always good to see you, Michael.

MICHAEL HIRSH, "NEWSWEEK": Thank you. Good to see you.

CHOI: So how effective were the talks between Bush and Putin over the weekend? Did anything significant at all come out of these talks?

HIRSH: No, not very much. Other than a little bit of face- saving rhetoric for Bush. I mean, after all, this is a president who had a very bad week last week in terms of gaining international cooperation of any kind of Iraq, so just the fact that, you know, some of his statements did not get slapped down by Putin, namely, in terms of what to do about Iran, in terms of cooperation on Iraq, was something of a triumph, but a very, very small one. CHOI: I mean, I don't have any inside knowledge, but it seems to me just looking at video from their meeting and other previous meetings, that they seem to like each other, these two men. But describe the relationship between the U.S. and Russia, especially given the differences over Iraq. Is that strained?

HIRSH: It's deeply strained. And rescued perhaps only by the personal relationship between the two leaders. After all, when Bush first met Putin a few years ago, he declared to the world that he had looked into his soul and liked what he saw. The relationship has deepened since then.

But the personal relationship can only do so much when there is such deep differences between the two countries on any number of issues. So you have a situation where there is no real concrete pledge of cooperation being gained from Putin, who's playing a very clever game of straddling the fence, trying to, you know, stay in Bush's camp, but at the same time dealing with obstructing U.S. objectives in the U.N. Security Council.

CHOI: And he readily came out and said, no, I'm not going to commit to more of a Russian presence in postwar Iraq at this point. So what does that mean to the administration?

HIRSH: Well, it means that the U.S. is basically left alone on this issue, as it is on Iran, on North Korea. I mean, what you have is the spectacle of a president who effectively snubbed international institutions like the U.N. and the International Atomic Energy Agency for a long time, defied the U.N. in going to war in Iraq, and now desperately needs them. You heard Bush at his summit press conference with Putin talk about how he wants to go through the IAEA in terms of pressuring Iran, because that's what Putin wants to do. Well, you know, this is the same agency that Bush had so little use for before Iraq. And so what you see is a need to really do a lot of making up with the international community, and it's happening very painfully and very reluctantly.

CHOI: Yes, Russia really does have a vested interest in straddling the nuclear issue at this point, because they have $800 million to gain from Iran by building a nuclear plant. But Putin did also acknowledge that Iran's nuclear issue was a problem.

HIRSH: Yes, that was also a small incremental improvement for the administration's position that Russia acknowledged that, it had denied in the past that there was any problem whatsoever. The Russians continue to believe, however, that they can monitor Iran's progress and what the Iranians are saying, and the Russians continue to say it is a commercial nuclear project. But it is also clear that Putin and the Russians have absolutely no intention of giving up the project.

CHOI: We'll have to see where it goes from here. Michael Hirsh, "Newsweek" magazine, thanks so much for joining us.

HIRSH: Sure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 28, 2003 - 11:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is expected to press ahead with his appeal for more international support in rebuilding Iraq, despite a setback this weekend. His summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin produced no promise of Russian troops or money. But when yesterday's talks wrapped up, President Bush appeared pleased with his chance to sit down with the Russian leader.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our goal is to bring the U.S./Russian relationship to a new level of partnership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHOI: President Putin opposed the war in Iraq and he says Russia's involvement will depend on a new resolution being considered by the U.N. Security Council.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The degree and the extent and level of Russia's participation in the restoration of Iraq will be determined after we know the parameters of the resolution, of the new resolution ,on Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHOI: And Michael Hirsh of "Newsweek" magazine is in Washington to talk more about the summit and what it did and did not accomplish.

Always good to see you, Michael.

MICHAEL HIRSH, "NEWSWEEK": Thank you. Good to see you.

CHOI: So how effective were the talks between Bush and Putin over the weekend? Did anything significant at all come out of these talks?

HIRSH: No, not very much. Other than a little bit of face- saving rhetoric for Bush. I mean, after all, this is a president who had a very bad week last week in terms of gaining international cooperation of any kind of Iraq, so just the fact that, you know, some of his statements did not get slapped down by Putin, namely, in terms of what to do about Iran, in terms of cooperation on Iraq, was something of a triumph, but a very, very small one. CHOI: I mean, I don't have any inside knowledge, but it seems to me just looking at video from their meeting and other previous meetings, that they seem to like each other, these two men. But describe the relationship between the U.S. and Russia, especially given the differences over Iraq. Is that strained?

HIRSH: It's deeply strained. And rescued perhaps only by the personal relationship between the two leaders. After all, when Bush first met Putin a few years ago, he declared to the world that he had looked into his soul and liked what he saw. The relationship has deepened since then.

But the personal relationship can only do so much when there is such deep differences between the two countries on any number of issues. So you have a situation where there is no real concrete pledge of cooperation being gained from Putin, who's playing a very clever game of straddling the fence, trying to, you know, stay in Bush's camp, but at the same time dealing with obstructing U.S. objectives in the U.N. Security Council.

CHOI: And he readily came out and said, no, I'm not going to commit to more of a Russian presence in postwar Iraq at this point. So what does that mean to the administration?

HIRSH: Well, it means that the U.S. is basically left alone on this issue, as it is on Iran, on North Korea. I mean, what you have is the spectacle of a president who effectively snubbed international institutions like the U.N. and the International Atomic Energy Agency for a long time, defied the U.N. in going to war in Iraq, and now desperately needs them. You heard Bush at his summit press conference with Putin talk about how he wants to go through the IAEA in terms of pressuring Iran, because that's what Putin wants to do. Well, you know, this is the same agency that Bush had so little use for before Iraq. And so what you see is a need to really do a lot of making up with the international community, and it's happening very painfully and very reluctantly.

CHOI: Yes, Russia really does have a vested interest in straddling the nuclear issue at this point, because they have $800 million to gain from Iran by building a nuclear plant. But Putin did also acknowledge that Iran's nuclear issue was a problem.

HIRSH: Yes, that was also a small incremental improvement for the administration's position that Russia acknowledged that, it had denied in the past that there was any problem whatsoever. The Russians continue to believe, however, that they can monitor Iran's progress and what the Iranians are saying, and the Russians continue to say it is a commercial nuclear project. But it is also clear that Putin and the Russians have absolutely no intention of giving up the project.

CHOI: We'll have to see where it goes from here. Michael Hirsh, "Newsweek" magazine, thanks so much for joining us.

HIRSH: Sure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com