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Cheney remarks spark talk of 'new cold war'
Russian newspapers looked back six decades on Friday as they reacted with alarm and indignation to Dick Cheney's rebuke of Russia in Vilnius, some warning it marked the dawn of a new cold war. . . . most Moscow newspapers – government-controlled and independent – carried it on their front pages on Friday. . . . They presented it variously as carrying echoes of the speech in Fulton, Missouri, in 1946 when Sir Winston Churchill warned of an "Iron Curtain" descending across Europe, or the 1945 Yalta conference where Europe's post-war map was drawn up. Some suggested Mr Cheney's remarks would drive Russia into the arms of China. . . . Many highlighted the fact that Mr Cheney's speech was delivered in Lithuania to the Community of Democratic Choice, the nine-country group of former Soviet republics and satellites set up by presidents Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia and Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine. . . . The presidential administration viewed Mr Cheney’s words with “incomprehension” – particularly his warning over Russia using its energy might to “blackmail” its neighbours. . . . "We can't agree with a lot of his speech," Mr Peskov said. "We can't agree that Russian companies are intimidating people, intimidating neighbouring countries, which need oil and gas for the development of their democracies and their economy. . . . "Russia and Russian companies for many decades, including during the cold war, were reliable suppliers of energy resources to Europe. And we remain reliable suppliers," Mr Peskov added. . . . He said Mr Cheney's speech made no mention of the "successes that Russia has achieved in the area of democracy, in the area of freedom of religion. Fifteen years ago, no one in Europe could have imagined that we would follow such a path." . . . "If we're talking about some kind of change of approach, this should be officially communicated, and not by means of a speech at a conference," he said.

posted by LoZo 3:24 PM