IS THE COLD WAR BACK? (or did it ever leave?)

Bush strongly suggests that Iraqi style democracy is optimal for Russia. Putin rebuffs el presidente and the press laughs with Putin

The Cold War was the era I grew up in. Russia was bullying the world with a Nuclear threat that made life an every day scary event. Today, our leaders acted as though this peril from Russia was a thing of the past (President Bush’s June 2001 declaration that he had looked Russia’s Vladimir Putin in the eye and “was able to get a sense of his soul”)

So with this threat supposedly long gone the Bush administration became solely occupied with a tiny Middle East country who posed no endangerment and was fully contained by sanctions. But still decided to declare war upon it. While the Real Threat quietly menaced in the background and now Russia is using their nuclear arsenal to bully humanity once again. (How come Bush didn't see that when he looked into The Putin Eye?) thinkingblue

COLD WAR - The global superpower stand-off that brought the world to the brink of destruction.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/soviet_stand_01.shtml

clipped from news.yahoo.com Russia: could use nuclear weapons By STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer MOSCOW - Russia's military chief of staff said Saturday that Moscow could use nuclear weapons in preventive strikes to protect itself and its allies, the latest aggressive remarks from increasingly assertive Russian authorities. We do not intend to attack anyone, but we consider it necessary for all our partners in the world community to clearly understand ... that to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia and its allies, military forces will be used, including preventively, including with the use of nuclear weapons," Baluyevsky said military doctrine adopted in 2000 says Russia may use nuclear weapons to counter a nuclear attack on Russia or an ally, Baluyevsky's statement means that, as before, we cannot count on our conventional forces to counter aggression It means containing aggression against Russia is nuclear weapons Putin stressed the need to maintain a powerful nuclear deterrent