Making cold calls

The current chill in US-Russia relations is stirring Cold War memories. There is obviously no shortage of irritants between Moscow and Washington, ranging from stalled talks on Russia?s entry to the World Trade Organisation, to differences about how to deal with Iran?s nuclear ambitions and Washington?s tough line on Moscow?s ally, Belarus.

The current chill in US-Russia relations is stirring Cold War memories. There is obviously no shortage of irritants between Moscow and Washington, ranging from stalled talks on Russia’s
entry to the World Trade Organisation, to differences about how to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Washington’s tough line on Moscow’s ally, Belarus.

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Bilateral ties between the erstwhile Cold Warriors have become frostier since early this year when Russia tried to bolster its position as an energy giant. Gazprom, the Kremlin-controlled natural gas company, briefly turned off its gas taps to Ukraine in a pricing dispute that disrupted supply to Europe as well. This and similar events did little to allay growing Western suspicion of Russia’s commitment to democracy under President Vladimir Putin. Russia’s insistence that sanctions shouldn’t be used against Iran prompted benign Western criticism of Mr Putin, with some likening him to the Soviet Union’s unyielding Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, known in the West as ‘Mr Nyet’. Strident critics even blame Kremlin bosses for being influenced by the so-called ‘tsar effect’, becoming paranoid about imaginary Western efforts to dominate Russia. US Vice- President Dick Cheney’s recent rebuke to Moscow — when he accused it using energy supplies for ‘blackmail’ — may only worsen matters, coming as it does on the eve of the G-8 summit in St Petersburg next July. It’s curious why Moscow has chosen to break ranks with Washington, especially after Mr Putin had worked so hard post-9/11 to forge strong bonds with US President Bush. Russia probably fears that the US policy of promoting global democracy could actually be an instrument to establish itself as the dominant power in the post-Soviet States.