When they met at the Beijing Olympics, US President George Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin were seen exchanging a warm embrace and laughing together.
Only four days later, Bush gave a serious speech from the White House rose garden, in which he made it clear that a serious split has emerged between the US and Russia due to the recent conflict in Georgia.
Bush warned Prime Minister Putin from "dangerous and dramatic escalation" of the Georgia war, branded the Russian military offensive as an "invasion" and claimed that "Russia's reputation in the world has been gravely damaged".
Is there now the threat of a new Cold War between Russia and the USA?
In the UN Security Council, the two countries argued with one another like they used to in the times of the Berlin Wall, barbed wire and nuclear missiles. US Ambassador Khalizad accused Moscow of conducting a "terror campaign" and added: "The days of forcing a government out of office via military means are over in Europe."
Russian ambassador Tschurkin responded: "That is absolutely unacceptable, especially from the ambassador of a country whose actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Serbia are well known."
One high ranking US government official was reminded by the recent Caucasusconflict of the Russian invasion of Afghanistanand its march into Czechoslovakia.
Putin has paid no heed to Washington's warnings. He cited the protocol of the US which "hanged Saddam Hussein because he attacked a couple of Shiite villages". The Russian PM considered the US action of flying Georgian troops back from Iraq "deplorable" and added: "Instead of helping us, a partner of ours is getting in the way." President Medvedev explained yesterday that he had ordered an end to military action and presented a six-point peace plan yesterday afternoon, which he had outlined along with EU President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has agreed to the plan.
The problem is that even a brief ceasefire will not soon ease tensions between Russiaand the USA. A cooling of relations can expected – at the least.
•Moscow has demanded the resignation of Georgian President Saakashvili and refuses to negotiate otherwise. However, the USA has supported the Western-orientated President, and has already invested a great deal of money and military aid in the country.
•Georgia wants to leave the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Russian-led organisation of former SovietRepublics.
•NATO wants to admit Georgia although Russia has strongly resisted this.
•Poland wants to house US defence missiles despite strong protests from Moscow. Polish Prseident Lech Kaczynski said: "Russia has recently shown its true colours."
Ex-NATO general Klaus Naumann told BILD: "Hopefully it involves only a temporary worsening of US-Russian relations."
This is an article which is a part 1 of the article series. We have found numerous articles which show that Russia and US' relations are soured, even during the Bush time.
Some questions to ponder about:
-What are the consequences of their soured relationship?
- do note that this article is hinting on a second cold war between russa and us, but other than that, what are the other consequences?
-What can US or Russia do to cool relations between them?
Do look out for part 2 of the article series, where we will be featuring President Obama!
Dayna Yong
http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/world-news/2008/08/13/new-cold-war/between-russia-and-us.html
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