62071    Extension plans for roads and railroads could be frozen in principle.

62072    We want to ask for a complete turn of the public investment strategy to " safety over convenience."

62073    While there are time constraints, it must be possible.

62074    We urge the government to handle emergency response measures with the supplementary budget and work on the full-scale safety improvement of the Japanese archipelago by revising the 1995 annual budget.

62075    In a little more than a year, a peculiar glitch has occurred in the U.S.-Russia relations.

62076    In the issue concerning the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to include Eastern Europe, the US, which insisted on an "early admission," was radically opposed by Russia, which objects to the idea.

62077    President Clinton dismissed the Russian interference as "whether or not to join NATO should be decided by nobody but the East European countries."

62078    In doing so, President Clinton expressed his will to put Eastern Europe's wish for an "official return to Europe" before showing respect to Russia.

62079    But the U.S. showed its understanding of the Yeltsin government's high-handed military intervention in Chechnya by referring to it as an "internal matter of Russia."

62080    Further, the U.S. promised to continue its support for Russia during the U.S.-Russia foreign ministerial talks held on the 17th and 18th in Geneva.

62081    It is as if the U.S. has turned a blind eye to the Chechen people's desire to break away from Russia as well as the criminal nature of the invasion that has produced a considerable number of noncombatant victims.

62082    When comparing these two cases, it is obvious that there is a major inconsistency in the way the U.S. plays against Russia between the issues of Eastern Europe and Chechnya.

62083    We cannot help but question where the U.S. policy toward Moscow is rooted or if there is any consistency there.

62084    Russia is still in a transition period after getting rid of totalitarianism not too long ago, and President Clinton has a point when he said that it would be ill-advised for the West to over-react to Russia's internal change every time that occurs.

62085    It is also true that the alliance with Russia is essential for the tasks on a global scale such as the ratification and implementation of the already agreed-upon Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (SART) and securing the consolidation of nuclear management.