MOSCOW: Russia deepened its relations with Georgia's two breakaway regions on Wednesday, even as the Bush administration was intensifying its warnings that Russia was "on a one-way path to self-imposed isolation and international irrelevance." Brushing aside international protests, President Dmitri Medvedev signed separate treaties with the regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, guaranteeing them protection in case of attack. The treaties also allow Russia to build military bases and station additional troops in the territories. Those steps, if put into effect, would violate the European-brokered cease-fire that ended Russia's war with Georgia last month. In Washington, the administration's criticism of Russia is reaching new intensity in remarks prepared for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In a speech she is to deliver before the German Marshall Fund on Thursday, Rice will challenge Russia in some of the most stinging language she has used in office.
MOSCOW: Russia deepened its relations with Georgia's two breakaway regions on Wednesday, even as the Bush administration was intensifying its warnings that Russia was "on a one-way path to self-imposed isolation and international irrelevance."
Brushing aside international protests, President Dmitri Medvedev signed separate treaties with the regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, guaranteeing them protection in case of attack.
The treaties also allow Russia to build military bases and station additional troops in the territories. Those steps, if put into effect, would violate the European-brokered cease-fire that ended Russia's war with Georgia last month.
In Washington, the administration's criticism of Russia is reaching new intensity in remarks prepared for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In a speech she is to deliver before the German Marshall Fund on Thursday, Rice will challenge Russia in some of the most stinging language she has used in office.
Dmitrii Medvedev, the Russian president, says he is not afraid of a new cold war. Should anyone be? The recent conflict in Georgia and the surging rhetorical battle between Moscow and Western leaderships have revived ugly twentieth-century memories. But it is perhaps worth recalling German unification chancellor Otto von Bismarck's warning that Russia is never as strong or as weak as it looks. As we approach the spectre of a new cold war, however, we can rest confident that Russia's strength is of the exaggerated quality. Last week, Russian bombers landed in Venezuela. After mauling its former colony of Georgia, Russia is now reaching out to a Latin American well-wisher, whose leader spoke positively of its actions and just severed diplomatic relations with Washington. Ugly shadows of the Cuban Missile Crisis, we are told, loom over the tranquil Caribbean.
Should anyone be?
The recent conflict in Georgia and the surging rhetorical battle between Moscow and Western leaderships have revived ugly twentieth-century memories.
But it is perhaps worth recalling German unification chancellor Otto von Bismarck's warning that Russia is never as strong or as weak as it looks. As we approach the spectre of a new cold war, however, we can rest confident that Russia's strength is of the exaggerated quality.
Last week, Russian bombers landed in Venezuela. After mauling its former colony of Georgia, Russia is now reaching out to a Latin American well-wisher, whose leader spoke positively of its actions and just severed diplomatic relations with Washington.
Ugly shadows of the Cuban Missile Crisis, we are told, loom over the tranquil Caribbean.
have condi rice show up in fuck-me jackboots, armed with stinging comments like a dominatrix animé to an already 'shock-doctrined' situation.
compensating for not being asked to be VP!
condaleezer, and the catwalk-to-chaos combo.
hopefully the russians don't take her rhetorical bear-baiting seriously, i don't think anyone else does.
let her incendiaries fall harmlessly into a puddle of silence, any response would validate this clumsy, callow apology for diplomacy.
we finally have articulate, intelligent russian leaders to negotiate with, and this is the best we 'westerners' can offer?
boggles the mind... ~Government budget deficits are not nearly as dangerous as the deficits we have created in vital and complex natural systems.~ Naomi Klein.
