Is The Cold War Coming Back?
Published Wed, Dec 20 2006 12:11 AM
Technorati Tags: News and Politics, Open Trackbacks
The whole Litvinenko affair has had me wondering if Russia was returning to the days of the KGB and an oppressive police state. It hasn't helped that Russia basically stone-walled the British murder investigation, or that the Polonium that was used to poison Litvinenko most likely came from a Russian nuclear facility. From FOXNews.com.
Before dying, Litvinenko pointed his finger directly at Russian President Vladimir Putin, who denied committing any crime, and while the case will likely never be resolved, at least two U.S. senators say the former KGB colonel is moving the country away from democracy and other U.S. ideals.
"I think this guy is taking Russia backward," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
"Russia is moving more and more to an oligarchy here. Putin is consolidating power," added Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who appeared with Graham on "FOX News Sunday" earlier this month.
Bipartisan agreement that Vladimir Putin doesn't exactly have a forward thinking democracy in mind for Russia? Now that's a surprise.
Putin is largely the reason why Americans are scratching their heads and wondering what happened since those heady days when hands across the two continents seemed to spell such promise.
Since taking office in 1999, he has consolidated economic and political power with the government, controls much of the country's rich oil and natural gas industry and keeps an iron thumb on dissidents through control of the media and intimidation, according to Aleksandr Grigoryev, editor of Washington ProFile, a privately run news bulletin that provides Russian journalists reports from the United States.
Not to mention the tendency of dissidents or people that don't agree politically with Putin or his adminstration to suddenly develop bizarre and "medically baffling" symptoms, that eventually turn out to be from one form of poisoning or another. Alexander Litvinenko wasn't the first after all.
"No one else has the same level of power as Mr. Putin does in Russia," Grigoryev said. "Everything depends on Putin."
In the midst of it all, Russia has consistently sided against the United States on critical positions at the U.N. Security Council, including support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and calls for tough sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
"The level of anti-Americanism in Russia has risen sharply," Grigoryev said, noting that a recent poll showed 25 percent of Russians believe the United States is Russia's enemy. He said government control of the media steers public perceptions.
"Russian ideology is anti-American right now and nothing can change until Putin is out of power," he said.
...
As for Litvinenko, the former Russian spy turned Putin critic, he died on Nov. 23 from exposure to the radioactive isotope polonium 210. He was reportedly poisoned while meeting a source in London about the October murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
Politkovskaya had been working on an article alleging torture in Chechnya under Kremlin-appointed Chechnya Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. British police are still investigating Litvinenko's poisoning and Russian authorities have yet to finger Politkovskaya's murderers.
...
U.S.-Russian relations started out the millennium well, with President Bush and Putin on friendly terms. In June 2001 after meeting in Slovenia, Bush said he looked into Putin's soul and saw a good man and an ally.
In retrospect, many critics are wondering exactly what Bush saw. Reports persist that Soviet nuclear technology is getting into the hands of state sponsors of terrorism and the Russians are openly helping the Iranians with their nuclear energy program. Moscow has also reached out to China as a strategic partner.
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