It’s not everyday an American like me gets to attend a media conference half a world away featuring the former president of the Islamic Republic of Iran – not to mention Russia’s ex-prime minister and the two Richards of American foreign policy, former Assistant Secretary of State Holbrooke and former Assistant Secretary of Defense Perle, along with assorted representatives of NATO, the National Security Council and the OSCE. Nor is it common to have a television personality from Al Jazeera International, also known as (in the USA at least) the “terror channel,” as the Conference Chair.

Even less familiar is the conference’s location – Almaty, the largest city in the Republic of Kazakhstan, heretofore unfortunately best known in the West as the butt of Borat jokes… Kazakhstan, it turns out, is the ninth largest country in the world –- actually bigger than all of Western Europe — although its population is estimated at just over fifteen million people. Bordering on Russia, China, and the Central Asian countries of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, the country stretches over a vast expanse of northern and central Eurasia and is also partially located in eastern-most Europe, west of the Ural River.

Greetings, then, from the sixth annual EurAsian Media Forum, which kicked off this morning with a welcome from Dr. Dariga Nazarbayeva, the very modern and dynamic daughter of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who noted that issues of energy security, power in world politics, nuclear proliferation and global problems in journalism would all be covered during the three-day event. She was followed by former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, who spoke of the existence of “multiple cultural networks” and “different neighborhoods in a multi-cultural world,” and how “new communications technologies have opened civilizations to one another,” while bemoaning the indisputable fact that “threats and violence are still largely dominant in the international sphere.”

“Why is the image of the East in the West, and vice versa, so distorted?” wondered Khatami. “The loud voice of violence does not allow the voice of ‘others’ to be heard or understood… We need not just to tolerate but also to understand the other.

”The world needs peace and the values and dialogue of development,” concluded Khatami. “But it stands instead at a dangerous crossroad. And the global media has a crucial role to play.”

President Nazarbayev then spoke, pointing out that Kazakhstan itself is a crossroad, a nexus of “East and West, North and South,” with one hundred and ten different ethnic groups within its boundaries. Citing his country’s ten percent annual growth rate and ongoing economic and social transformation, he said many problems still remain for his country, and concluded, “We need to find our place within the international community,” while still pointing with pride to positive trends and reminding the assembly that after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan possessed the fourth largest nuclear arsenal in the world – and promptly surrendered all its WMD! “We gave up our nuclear weapons,” he said. “Others should follow our example.”

Not surprisingly, much of the focus of the confab here is on fear and security. Speaking of which, the Intercontinental Hotel, where the conference is taking place, was under tight lockdown owing to the presence of Nazarbayev, who was re-elected in 2005 for a seven-year term with more than 90% of the votes, amid protests that the ballot had been rigged and OSCE observations that the election was seriously flawed. Nazarbayev maintained it had been fair and showed that people wanted evolution instead of revolution. Although supporters give him credit for preserving stability and encouraging multi-ethnicity, opponents say he has suppressed dissent and concentrated power in his own hands. And though he claims to advocate democracy in the long-term, Nazarbayev also warns –perhaps too conveniently — that stability could be at risk if the changeover is too rapid.

But then, outside the womb of the West, much is different. Take the focus of the panel discussions here, for example: “World Politics – Questions of Power and Justice” was the opening plenary session; “’Glamorization’ of the Media” is the closing one. Different too is the language used to describe the sessions – much more pointed than one would find at, say, the We Media Conference… Check out this introduction to the first panel, which concerned the war in Iraq: “Now generally accepted as without moral legitimacy and certainly without international support, events have undermined the authority and credibility of the international institutions…and have also exacerbated the underlying tension between the US and the UN…the current administration decreasingly concerns itself with the international community and displays a diminishing respect of international law.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself!

Befitting the controversial description, the panel itself was filled with conflict, and notably marked by Holbrooke storming off the stage in response to a vociferous attack on the United States by a fellow panelist, British MP George Galloway. But first Bakhtiar Amin, former Minister of Human Rights in Iraq gave a baleful account of the toll of death and destruction visited upon his countrymen by decades of the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein, followed of course by the US invasion and overthrow of Hussein, and the ongoing occupation and civil war currently raging in Iraq.

Amin was asked by Al Jazeera’s Riz Khan, “Is there any reason for hope?” He answered by quoting an Iraqi proverb: “We have the pessimism of reason and wisdom and the optimism of will.” He added that Iraqis are “incredibly resilient –anyplace else would have disintegrated by now.”

Richard Perle – known in some circles as the ‘Prince of Darkness’ – was then asked if he had any regrets, in hindsight, over his advocacy of invading Iraq. Apparently not… “After the attacks of 9/11,”Perle said, ”A defensive action had to be taken in light of the threat. The decision to remove Saddam was right – but we shouldn’t have allowed the liberation to become an occupation, in the mistaken belief that we could reconstruct Iraq. Only Iraqis can do that.”

Former Russian prime minister Eugenie Primakov took issue with Perle. “The US saw a threat – but there was none,” he responded. “There was no WMD, no connection to Al Qaeda. The US policy of unilateralism does not justify the use of force.

“The policy is inefficient,” Primakov concluded. “Now there is civil war, now there is terrorism in Iraq, where before there was none.”

Galloway then began his attacks. “The United States brought Osama bin Laden to the region, not Saddam Hussein,” he said, decrying the “cant and hypocrisy” of Perle. “Bush is now such a broken reed that even Richard Perle has abandoned him! No one believes our leaders any more—even if they are telling the truth – due to the tower of lies they built to justify the invasion.”

Ariel Cohen of the Heritage Foundation tried to intervene. “This is no time for finger pointing,” said Cohen. “That said, I heard the same Russian analysis before the war. I heard what Primakov said today in 2003, and it was right even then. But the crucial question now is not ‘What was done?’ but ‘What is to be done?’”

Holbrooke then noted that ‘two thirds of the American people now are opposed to the war, and want a quick solution, but there is no such thing. Responsible leaders oppose a precipitate withdrawal.”

Galloway then launched into a broadside of undiluted anti-American remarks, which were greeted repeatedly by applause, prompting Holbrooke to note his “dismay and disappointment” and to respond that “If you disagree with the Bush Administration, join the club! So do two thirds of all Americans. But I am saddened that many of you seem to conflate opposing the Bush Administration policies with opposing the American people.”

When Galloway repeated his verbal attacks, Holbrooke made a show of storming off the stage. I half-expected someone to take off his shoe and start pounding on the table…

If today’s opening session is any indication, I guess we can expect such sparks to continue to fly throughout the three-day conference. Frankly, the anti-Bush, anti-America sentiments being expressed here saddened me as well. Even at the height of the Vietnam War, most of the world was still able to make a crucial distinction between the politicians and the people. Saddened — but certainly not surprised. It’s just one more sign of the extent of the loss of prestige and respect the United States has undergone in the past six years, under one of the worst Administrations in the history of our own republic.