PARIS: In Paris to promote his book of memoirs, Former Russian Prime Minister Evgueni Primakov has lost no time in sending out a warning to the United States that, in his estimation — and in the particular context of Russian and Central Asian history — it would be a “major error” on the part of America to attack Iraq.

He notes, if ever the United States decides to makes use of its bases in Afghanistan as a stepping stone to Iraq, and an eventual attack on that country, that would be, in his estimation, “a major error on America’s part, for the United States would lose immediately all of the support it won with its operations in Afghanistan.”

“My country (Russia) would certainly find it difficult maintaining a neutral position because our present philosophy would call for a change of position.”

Having conferred with French authorities on the present situation in Central Asia, Primakov also stressed that it was his understanding that France too would be forced to make an important change in its position if ever the US continued to send war signals towards Iraq.

Moreover, he notes, “a strike on Iraq would also result in the taking of a unified stance against the West on the part of the Arab and Islamic world, and would provoke a clash of civilisations, between Islam and the West. And right now there is nothing worse (for the future of the world) that could happen.”

As for the conflict in the Middle East, Primakov notes that a large part of the blame for the present impasse is America’s having “established a monopoly over mediation in the war, a monopoly that inexorably results in a perpetual blockage.”

What is needed, he notes, are more joint efforts, “perhaps even with the assistance of the United States, and why not Russia, the European Union, United Nations, and Egypt?” Especially, he notes, “as Sharon’s policies are getting nowhere. Sharon’s efforts are aimed at blocking the creation of a Palestinian state. But, without the existence of a Palestinian state, there can never be any real security, for the Israelis as well as for the Palestinians.”