Back to the Cold War? Putin’s Policies Head in a Dark Direction

It’s difficult to avoid the impression that with Russia, we may be gravitating toward a new cold war. Flush with cash as a result of soaring energy prices, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin behaves like a man who is utterly unconstrained by “world opinion” (however defined), or the possibility of incurring Washington’s wrath. We see Russia’s use of heavy-handed coercion against neighboring countries, most of them democracies; and a willingness to undercut U.S. foreign policy interests time and again in dealing with rogue states like Iran and Syria and with terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Russia has joined with China to push for the closing of U.S. military bases in strategically critical Central Asian countries like Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Moscow and Beijing, who have been cooperating on military intelligence matters since the end of the Cold War, have started conducting joint military exercises — which they claim are not aimed at any other country — reassurances that aren’t taken too seriously in Washington or Taipei. And Moscow is helping fuel Beijing’s military buildup, selling it submarines, jet fighters, destroyers and other advanced weaponry.


While cultivating Beijing, Putin, a man who describes the fall of the Soviet Union as “the geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century,” has become increasingly shrill in his attacks against Washington. In a Feb. 10 speech to an international security conference in Munich, he delivered a searing, almost Orwellian attack against the United States. Putin painted a picture of an increasingly brutal, violent world, suggesting that the United States, and not terrorist groups or despots, was to blame. He complained that “unilateral” solutions to problems (in other words, American policies) had resulted in a situation in which principles of international law were disdained in a world in which “nobody felt safe.” Why, he asked, “is it necessary nowadays to start bombing and shooting on any given occasion?”

The Russian leader attacked the idea of expanding NATO eastward and accused the United States of triggering an international arms race. “One state, the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way,” Putin said. “This is very dangerous. Nobody feels secure anymore because nobody can hide behind international law. This is nourishing an arms race with the desire of countries to get nuclear weapons.” (It’s no great leap to say that, in Moscow’s view, Ayatollah Khamenei and Kim Jong Il don’t want nuclear weapons in order to intimidate other countries, but because they feel a genuine need to protect themselves from Bush Administration bullying.)

Accuracy In Media