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American Morning

President Bush and Russian President Putin Set for First Meeting

Aired June 15, 2001 - 09:35   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.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Presidents Bush and Putin meet for the first time tomorrow. Mr. Bush says that he hopes that the session in Slovenia will put Cold War suspicions to rest for both the United States and Russia.

For more, we're joined from Washington by Mara Rudman of the German Marshall Fund. She's a former national security deputy assistant, and Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy. And he is a former assistant secretary of defense.

Thank you both for joining us. I know you were able to hear Condoleezza Rice in the interview with John King there.

Let's start with the missile defense. Do you think, when she talks about, that it's old times vs. new times that the president will be able to make some headway in his argument on missile defense, Mara?

MARA RUDMAN, GERMAN NATIONAL FUND: Frankly, I was struck by how much of what she said on a range of issues was very similar to what my former boss, Sandy Berger, would have said, even in terms of missile defense.

When she spoke, she spoke in terms of the need to work with Russia to find some common ground on a number of issues, including missile defense.

I think that this meeting will be a real test to see whether in fact President Bush and President Putin can speak about issues with each other and to see the extent to which President Bush is willing to hear out Putin's concerns and perhaps show some flexibility in what types of missile defense the United States might put forward.

KELLEY: Frank, do you expect to see some headway on missile defense in this meeting?

FRANK GAFFNEY, CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY: Well, I think it depends entirely, really , on whether President Bush maintains the kind of momentum that he's clearly struck during these several days in Europe so far.

If the president is perceived by the Russians as determined to press forward, to achieve, as he says, a deployment of effective missile defenses at the earliest possible time, I am very confident that the Russians will see the way ahead as being one by which they need to accommodate this, rather than to continue to resist it.

KELLEY: We have plenty more to talk about. What we're going to do is take a real quick break here, continue our conversation with our guests. And we'll even be talking with some Gallup Poll folks about some numbers they have on the foreign policy team.

We'll have that for you after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KELLEY: And we are going to continue our conversation with our guests, Mara Rudman from the German Marshall Fund and Frank Gaffney for the Center for Security Policy.

Frank, we'll start off with you once again. Let's talk about some of the other issues. We were talking about the missile defense. What other issues do you think that they'll be able to touch upon?

GAFFNEY: Well, I think, frankly, that will probably dominate the agenda. The complimentary part of it will be the other aspect of the so-called new strategic framework, which is to say the approach that President Bush is beginning to flesh out towards our offensive nuclear forces and what kinds of changes might be made in them, in the number, in their disposition, in the character of our forces, for that matter, and what response that might evoke on the part of the Russians who profess to be -- continue to be very concerned about the levels of these forces and hopeful of reducing them dramatically.

My own hope is that the president won't overdo this. I think it's important for us to remember that the Russians really have no choice but to reduce their nuclear forces. It's not self-evident that we should go down as low as they need to go.

KELLEY: Mara, missile defense will probably take the lead. But what else do you think will be talked about?

RUDMAN: I think missile defense will take the lead, though I think what I heard from Condi Rice was what sounded to me like a promising approach, which is to look at the common threats that the United States and Russia face.

I think this is also true in discussing a subject like missile defense with our European allies, that it makes sense to start from the place of prioritizing, among all of us, the threats that we face in terms of the weapons of mass destruction.

Now, that certainly includes issues that could lead to the creation of some type of a missile defense. But it includes concerns, for example, about the proliferation activities going on from Russia to some other states of concern for the United States. And I think it makes sense to -- in the conversation, in what I heard from Condi Rice, some of what President Bush and President Putin will be discussing are our common concerns about proliferation threats and the best ways to approach that. That may be through developing a new common, strategy framework. It may be through adjustments to the existing framework. I think that that kind of openness in approach is how we can best achieve some of the common objectives we share in terms of combating the threats that we all face.

(CROSSTALK)

KELLEY: I want to get both of your opinions if I can. We have about a minute left on -- Condi Rice said earlier they would probably have no specific proposals, that they're just going to get to know each other and establish a personal relationship.

Can both of you touch on what we know about Putin and what you think the role of Russia will be as we go forward.

Mara?

RUDMAN: I think Putin remains somewhat untested. And I think it makes sense in terms of the United States' approach to recognize that with him. I think that both of these men will be getting acquainted and also sizing one another up.

And the importance of the personal relationship, as it defines the ability to deal with one another, is critical. And so I think that we'll be taking a careful look at Putin. And I expect he will be at us as well.

There are certainly things in Russia to be concerned about with Putin at the helm. And I believe some of those concerns will be raised as well, although probably fairly gently.

KELLEY: Frank?

GAFFNEY: Yes, well, I think we do know a great deal about Putin. He is a former KGB operative who worked against the West assiduously. And when we talk about the so-called states of the concern, the Russians call them clients. And the proliferation problem is one on which I don't think there's as much common ground as you might be led to believe.

I hope the president will make very pointed references to our concerns about what Russia is actually doing to compound the danger that we now need to address through an effective missile defense, among other things.

KELLEY: OK, Frank Gaffney with the Center for Security Policy and Mara Rudman with the German Marshall Fund, I'm glad that both of you could stay with us and visit with us this morning. Thank you.

GAFFNEY: Thank you.

RUDMAN: Thanks.

KELLEY: Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: So what do Americans think of President Bush's foreign policy efforts? For some answers we turn now to the latest CNN/Gallup poll.

And from Princeton, New Jersey, here is Gallup Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport.

Hello, Frank, how are you?

FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP POLL: I'm fine. Thank you, Miles.

So far so good, I think, as far as the American public is concerned about President Bush and his foreign policy efforts. We'll see after a week or two when he comes back from his trip if that changes.

This is the progression of his foreign policy rating. We simply asked the public -- we've asked it for many presidents throughout history -- do you approve or disapprove of how President Bush is doing handling foreign relations?

It started out a little lower because the don't-knows were higher when he first took office. But as of our last rating a few weeks ago, 55 percent. Now, that's about exactly where his overall job approval rating is. So our conclusion is that so far Bush has neither exceeded his overall image in terms of foreign policy, nor is he underperforming. He's about where he is overall. This trip will help define it a little more, I think.

We asked a different question just this last weekend: Do you think Bush is doing a good job representing the interest of the U.S. around the world? Fifty-six percent say yes, a little lower, actually, than where Clinton was when we asked it about him back in 1994, but still positive.

But here's the rub. This is very interesting. We say: Do you think that the international leaders of other countries have respect for President Bush? Here's where we have the public being a little paranoid. They say only 40 percent yes, 46 percent no. In other words, Americans think that Mr. Bush isn't getting the respect that he is due.

Look at that. The same thing we found for Bill Clinton. So it's not specific to George W. Bush. The same kind of thing happened for Bill Clinton overall.

A couple of final points here: The American public generally favors the idea of the missile defense -- I should point out -- program, but a lot of people don't know a lot about it. We'll see how that plays out when he meets with Vladimir Putin. That's where the public stands.

Miles, Donna, back to you.

O'BRIEN: All right, Frank Newport, editor-in-chief at Gallup, thank you very much.

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