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Blair tries to avert Russia veto
LONDON, England (CNN) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair has met with Russia's top diplomat in an effort to persuade Moscow not to veto any U.N. resolution that would pave the way for war against Iraq. Wednesday's meeting at Downing Street comes a day after Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov warned that Russia would not abstain from any future U.N. Security Council vote on Iraq, nor would it support any measure furthering the possibility of war. "The Iraq question is precisely that sort of question when permanent members of the Security Council should not abstain," Ivanov told a news conference. (Full story) He also said the use of force without a second resolution would be "a serious mistake with serious consequences." Ivanov arrived at Downing Street at around 8:30 a.m. (0830 GMT) and left about an hour later without speaking to reporters. Ivanov met with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Tuesday, and afterwards the two sought to play down their differences, insisting that both remained committed to the disarmament of Iraq. However, Ivanov insisted that resolution 1441 "did not authorize the automatic use of force" against Iraq -- flatly contradicting Straw's earlier evidence to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs committee, where he warned the international community against putting Washington in a position where it felt isolated. "We will reap a whirlwind if we push the Americans into a unilateral position in which they are the center of a unipolar world," Straw said. After his meeting with Blair, Ivanov was expected to travel to Paris for meetings with French President Jacques Chirac and Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin. Elsewhere in Europe, Spain's parliament voted in a rare secret ballot to back Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's hardline stance on Iraq, despite widespread public opposition to war. After a five-hour debate Tuesday, lawmakers voted 183-164 to support Aznar. They also rejected an opposition resolution urging the government to seek peace with Baghdad. The Socialist Party had asked for the secret ballot in hopes that members of Aznar's Popular Party would break with the government. But it appeared that all 183 members of the government party supported the resolution backing Aznar. The vote was in stark contrast to last week's Labour rebellion in Britain's House of Commons, when 121 MPs from Blair's party voted against his Iraq policy. In Washington, officials said the Bush administration had not ruled out abandoning plans for a vote on a second U.N. resolution on Iraq if it was clear defeat is imminent. (Full story) U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Britain's Channel 4 news that "time is running out" for efforts to prevent war on Iraq. He refused to predict when war would begin but hinted that a decision on military action would be made next week. Powell said that the U.S. would not start any action until after reports Friday by chief U.N. arms inspectors Hans Blix and Mohammed ElBaradei. But he made it clear the U.S. was ready to go alone -- or with a "coalition of the willing" -- if U.N. support could not be achieved. Asked how long Washington was willing to wait, Powell told Channel 4 News: "We'll wait and see what they say on Friday and then I would say in the not-too-distant future. We're not talking a long period of time. "I don't want to get too pinned down on days or weeks or a week, but certainly I think next week we would have to give very serious consideration as to what the next step would be." Powell said that the decision of the Turkish parliament to deny the U.S. bases for its troops was a "disappointment" but said he was confident that it would not prevent America from carrying out its mission "in an efficient and effective way and achieve our objectives." Turkey's government said Tuesday it may ask parliament again to allow 62,000 U.S. troops into the country. The vote could come after a crucial by-election in Turkey this weekend. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Turkey would lose a $15 billion aid package if it refuses the troops. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also appeared on British television Tuesday night and sought to play down suggestions the US would "go it alone" with no regard for opinion elsewhere in the world. He appeared to be trying to build bridges with opponents of war like France and Germany, stressing that the White House took their concerns seriously "I keep reading that the U.S. is unilateralist and we are going it alone, but there will be more countries -- with or without a second resolution -- involved in a coalition of the willing, if force has to be used, than there were in the 1991 Gulf War," he told the BBC. However, without a second resolution, Blair still faces stiff opposition at home. A Mori poll released Wednesday found that 75 percent of Britons would back war if weapons inspectors found a "smoking gun" proving Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction and a second resolution was passed. But support would drop to just 24 percent in the absence of a "smoking gun" and second resolution.
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