#1
Moscow Times
March 7, 2002
Editorial
George Bush Has Laid an Iron Egg

Looking deeply into the eyes of Vladimir Putin, George W. Bush famously concluded that Russia's president is "a man America can do business with."

That observation proved to be truer than most people predicted, especially on issues dear to Bush's heart, such as oil and war. Putin, however, said no such thing about Bush, preferring to take a more, shall we say, sober approach to dealing with the leader of the world's sole remaining superpower.

Putin was right to refrain from such a snap assessment. Bush, by deciding Tuesday to impose punitive tariffs and quotas on steel imports from a host of countries, including Russia, not only acted on the fringes of legality, but also single-handedly pushed the world toward a potentially disastrous trade war.

Bush also exposed himself as a political panderer who will compromise his "free trade" doctrine to protect ailing and inefficient companies just because they helped pay for his election campaign and happen to employ thousands of swing-state voters without whose support he would still be in Texas.

This is hypocrisy, pure and simple, especially coming from a man whose minions scour the Earth urging nations to open their markets to U.S. goods. Under these circumstances Russia has every right to retaliate.

But without the legal mechanisms available to members of the W TO, which Russia hopes to join by the end of 2003, there is little it can do. And even if Russia were a member, it could take two years or more to resolve the dispute, by which time Bush would be well into his reelection campaign and the damage done to Russia's steel industry -- and its 750,000 employees -- could be catastrophic.

In this light, Russia's decision to ban all U.S. poultry beginning Sunday seems equitable. After all, some 70 percent of all chicken consumed in this country is imported from America. Why should a major American industry have a free ride here when a major Russian industry is discriminated against there? It's not as if the standard of living in both countries is equal.

Both sides deny the linkage of the two issues, which might have been true a few months ago. But not now.

Even so, the Agriculture Ministry may have a point in questioning the safety of U.S. chicken -- no one has ever produced a study that establishes exactly what a lifetime of eating chemically altered steroid-pumped super birds does to a person.

To use an Olympic analogy, Russia's steel team may be out of metal contention, but its poultry team now looks like a contender, as the favorite has just been disqualified for doping. Maybe it will get one of those golds left behind in Salt Lake City.

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