Putin's accusation draws cool riposte from Gates ~ Cold War Memories...

International Herald Tribune ^ | February 11, 2007 | Thom Shanker and Mark Landler

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

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U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the speech by President Vladimir Putin of Russia had reminded him of the Cold War.

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MUNICH: Defense Secretary Robert Gates, taking the high road to dispute aggressive criticism of American power from the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, told a European security conference here: "One Cold War was quite enough."

While government leaders, legislative members and military officials here continued dissecting the speech Putin gave Saturday to divine its motivation and impact, Gates chose words of velvet and not steel in offering Washington's fullest response.

"As an old Cold Warrior, one of yesterday's speeches almost filled me with nostalgia for a less complex time," Gates said. He paused for effect before adding, "Almost."

On Saturday, Putin accused the United States of provoking a new nuclear arms race by developing ballistic missile defenses, undermining international institutions, making the Middle East more unstable through its clumsy handling of the Iraq war and trying to divide modern Europe.

[AliVeritas]

Thanks E.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I was concerned as to how Gates was going to reply.....pretty good.....much better than I expected.

[econjack]

Man...where did this breath of fresh air come from? A politico with a spine? I thought that breed was extinct. Kudos to him!

[PGalt]

Hooray Robert Gates!

[o_zarkman44]

Russia, like Red China, are not our Friends and never have been. The only reason they have warmed relations with the US is to bring cold, hard, American cash into their otherwise struggling socialist/ communist economys.

If they can appease their people with a few of the western culture niceties, it helps them stay in power.

[MARKUSPRIME]

I like Gates when it comes to talking about our real enemies. Russia/China/Iran axis. The cold war never ended.

[Thunder90]

Russia is longing for the days when they were the USSR.

[Grampa Dave]

The more we hear from DefSec Gates, the more he sounds like a winner for our side. The rats and that stupid hate America group chaired by lovers of the Islamofacists must be having nightmares. They thought that Gates was one of their guys. Turns out, he is an old fashioned pro America Guy.

[Logical me]

So we are to sit like lazy ducks while Russia sells all kinds of weaponry to Iran and any other American hating Country. What kind of fools do they take us to be. What did they expect. We had to invest it missile defense to be safe from the Russian and China threat. Damn I hate stupid nitwits. Gates is my man. We need more strength like him in what is left of this Administration.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

So we are to sit like lazy ducks while Russia sells all kinds of weaponry to Iran and any other American hating Country.

The Lefties and their media and half the voters in this country say YES!

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Putin accused the United States of provoking a new nuclear arms race by developing ballistic missile defenses

What?! Everybody's ahead of US. We need to develop something just to keep up.

[Tailgunner Joe]

"All of these characterizations belong in the past," Gates said, and he listed some of them: "The free world versus those behind the Iron Curtain. North versus South. East versus West..."

KGB Putin is stuck in the Cold War. Newsflash, Putin, IT'S OVER AND YOU LOST! The good guys won!

[duckln]

Putin was against the EU, with USA, siding with Islamists terrorists in Bosnia and Kosovo. This was a blunder on our part.

Putin, as I remember, after 911, wanted to team up with us against the Islamists. Russia, he claimed, is a Christian nation and we have a common world wide enemy.

After the break up of the USSR, it was a new day and we let it slip by.

[Tailgunner Joe]

After 9-11, Russia wanted us to stop supporting the Chechens. We did. We got nothing in return. They wanted us to side with them against their islamists, but they have no intention of repaying the favor and siding with us against our own islamist enemies (Russia's ayatollah friends killing our soldiers in Iraq daily.) Since then Putin has said that he will not be part of any Christian "holy alliance " against Islamofascism. He said Russia is Islam's "best friend and most reliable partner." Some people will always blame America First when our enemies side against us. It's Bush's fault.