America and Russia: Everything old is new again

Okay, so it’s a considerable stretch to say “The Cold War is back, so put on a sweater.” It’s obvious, though, that relations between the US and Russia are perceptibly chillier. Last week, Dick Cheney rather publicly accused the Russian state of backsliding on progess towards democracy and using its vast energy reserves to bully European nations. Pointed words, and pointedly timed - the G-8 summit, to be hosted by Russia, is just a couple of months away. As the Seattle Times notes, this is a marked change from the Bush administration’s previous muted responses to aggressive Russian policies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not take long to respond, and in a style that surely made longtime Kremlin watchers downright nostalgic:

Putin issued a veiled but clear response to Vice President Dick Cheney’s accusations of Moscow’s rollback on democracy and strong-arming of ex-Soviet neighbors.

“Where is all this pathos about protecting human rights and democracy when it comes to the need to pursue their own interests?” said Putin.

“We are aware what is going on in the world. Comrade wolf knows whom to eat, it eats without listening, and it’s clearly not going to listen to anyone,” he said _ using the common fairy-tale wolf character to criticize the aggressive U.S. course in global affairs.

Parry and riposte - or, scratch a statesman and find an unreconstructed KGB thug. Wonder if this is what George Bush saw when he gazed into Putin’s eyes to get “a sense of the man’s soul“?

The rest of Putin’s address related such plans as strengthening the state’s military, including two new nuclear submarines (the better to “counter any attempts to pressure Russia”), and addressing the nation’s failing demographics by reducing mortality rates and, well, providing incentives for making more Russians.

“We must stimulate today the birth of at least a second child,” he said. “What stops a women deciding to have a second child? Bad living conditions, limited income … sometimes, God help us, the thought of whether they would be able to feed the child.”

Now that’s realpolitik. Russian women, do your duty!

In the meantime, it looks like the serve goes back to Bush. This upcoming G8 meeting is going to be a summit worth watching, with every current issue - most notably the problem of what to do about Iran - on the table.

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