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| Rice: No ‘new Cold War’ between U.S., Russia |
| 2007-05-14 |
| MOSCOW - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday that it is “not any easy” time in Russia-U.S. relations, but that the tensions do not amount to a new Cold War. “I don’t throw around terms like ‘new Cold War,”’ Rice said on her way to Moscow for a visit amid growing tensions underlined by President Vladimir Putin’s increasing criticism of the United States. “It is a big, complicated relationship, but it is not one that is anything like the implacable hostility” that clouded ties between the United States and the Soviet Union. “It is not an easy time in the relationship, but it is also not, I think, a time in which cataclysmic things are affecting the relationship or catastrophic things are happening in the relationship,” Rice told reporters aboard her plane. “But it is critically important to use this time to enhance those things that are going well and to work on those things that are not going well.” Washington’s relations with Moscow are troubled by sharp disagreements on specific issues — in particular the U.S. proposal to place elements of a missile defense system in former Soviet satellite countries — and by a clear rise in the Kremlin’s suspicion of American intentions worldwide. Kremlin anger Russian officials bristle at U.S. criticism of a perceived Kremlin rollback of democracy and complain that Washington is interfering in the country’s internal affairs by funding pro-democracy groups. Russia also accuses the U.S. of trying to dominate international affairs. In an address on the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, Putin last week denounced “disrespect for human life, claims to global exclusiveness and dictate, just as it was in the time of the Third Reich.” Rice suggested Russian officials’ sometimes emotionally charged wording of their complaints is not constructive, saying she has urged her counterparts to avoid “rhetoric that suggests the relationship is one of hostility.” She couched criticism of Russia’s democratic progress under Putin with a caveat alluding to the country’s troubled history. |
| Posted by:Delphi2005 |
| #3 It won't be a cold war since if we wanted it to be it would be like swatting a fly with a Buick. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-05-14 17:04 |
| #2 Crap! Now what am I going to do with all these t-shirts? |
| Posted by: danking_70 2007-05-14 15:16 |
| #1 I once had a lot of respect for Condi but as the resident expert on Russia and the Soviets it seems we've done a poor job of handling them. It didn't take a genious to determine that after 9 years of fighting in Afghanistan the Russians would be unhappy at our relatively quick victory. You can explain the differences all you want pride was hurt and we should have given the Russians/Putin lots of credit (even unearned) to help him save face. The bases in the ex-stans are a slap in the face as well. Having said that the previous administration didn't help with the way they handled the Serbs. Russia could be a huge asset in bringing global concensus to our needs if we played them right. They could be a poke in the arse with a sharp stick if we don't. So far we're getting the poke. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-05-14 14:05 |