http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/12-05-2006/80197-wolf-0
Putin calls USA 'a hungry wolf that eats and listens to no one'
Relations between the USA and Russia sank to the lowest point in a decade
when Vladimir Putin harshly rebuked Washington for its criticism last week and
compared the US to a hungry wolf that "eats and listens to no one". Although he
refrained from mentioning the US by name, it was clear that the "wolf" in
question referred to Washington.
The reason for such words was the statements made by American
vice-president Dick Cheney at a conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, last week. He
said that Russia was sending "mixed signals" over democracy, as well as using
its energy resources to "intimidate and blackmail" neighbours.
The war of words is a long way from the optimism with which George Bush
said, after his first face-to-face meeting with Mr Putin in 2001, that he had
looked into the Russian president's soul and liked what he saw, The Guardian
says.
Boris Makarenko, deputy head of the Centre for Political Technologies,
said the speech marked the beginning of a new approach in which Russia,
bolstered by high oil and gas prices, had stopped discussing democracy and
other issues with the west and had said instead: "We are strong, we have wealth
and we'll use it in a way we consider necessary."
Mr Makarenko said the bitter exchange between Washington and Moscow
during the past week was designed to get their mutual criticisms out of the way
prior to Russia chairing the G8 summit in St Petersburg in July.
Some western sources think that the statements of the Russian president
are the announcement of "cold war". For example, The Daily Telegraph says that
" Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, raised the spectre of the Cold War,
likening the United States to a voracious wolf and declaring that the arms race
was not yet over. With relations between Moscow and Washington at their most
strained in many years, Mr Putin used his annual state of the nation speech to
revive Russia's military rivalry with the United States."
According to Financial Times "the Russian president worryingly used his
annual "state of the union" speech to jab back at last week's hawkish critique
of his policies by Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, in a way that bodes ill
for co-operative results coming out of St Petersburg. Gone is the language of
partnership that both the White House and the Kremlin had used about each
other".
The Washington Post sees the statements of the Russia president
differently: "President Vladimir Putin took a swipe at the United States in his
state of the nation address Wednesday, bristling at being lectured by Vice
President Cheney and comparing Washington to a wolf who "eats without
listening."
During an emotional moment in the nationally televised speech, Putin used
a fairy-tale motif on building a fortress-like house to illustrate Russia's
need to bolster its defenses. He also suggested that the United States puts its
political interests above the democratic ideals it claims to cherish."
Source: agencies
Prepared by Alexander Timoshik
Pravda.Ru
Discuss this article on Pravda.Ru English Forum
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