On Friday, the Russian media described Dick Cheney’s harsh criticism of Russia and President Vladimir Putin as the beginning of a new Cold War. It’s interesting that this story has received little play on the very day that Porter Goss resigned. As the Bush administration unravels the CIA, “an agency that helped win the Cold War,” it appears that Dick Cheney may be instigating a new Cold War…

Cheney’s words Thursday at a conference in Lithuania drew a comparison to Winston Churchill’s famed “Iron Curtain” speech and reflected the deepening distrust between Washington and a newly assertive Kremlin.

The official Russian response to Cheney’s speech has been cautious. But angry reaction from politicians and pundits allied with the Kremlin reflects a chill between two presidents who seemed to hit it off early in their relationship.

In his speech, Cheney accused Russia of cracking down on religious and political rights and of using its energy reserves as “tools of intimidation or blackmail.”

Opponents of reform in Russia, the vice president said, “are seeking to reverse the gains of the last decade” after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet empire.

There was no public reaction from Putin or the government.

But the prominent business daily Kommersant said Cheney’s comments marked “the beginning of a second Cold War” and harked back to Churchill’s speech condemning Soviet expansionism in Eastern Europe with the “Iron Curtain” label that defined the East-West divide for decades.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov refrained from criticizing Cheney but condemned the meeting in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, which brought together the pro-Western leaders of former Soviet republics on the Baltic and Black seas.

“Over the past years, many forums have been created that reflect the desire of the respective states … to pool their efforts to achieve common benefits,” Lavrov said. “But there are forums that create an impression … that they are convened … for the sake of uniting against someone.”

Cheney’s criticism — some of Washington’s toughest language about Russia — came two months before President Bush is to join Putin in St. Petersburg for a summit of the Group of Eight major industrial powers.

“The speech effectively eliminates the vestiges of strategic partnership between Russia and the United States. And if U.S. President George W. Bush confirms the stance, the idea can be buried,” said pro-Kremlin political analyst Gleb Pavlovsky, the Interfax news agency reported. Read on…

The Financial Times called Cheney’s “robust approach” with Russia “a serious gamble.”

Vyacheslav Nikonov, a political analyst close to the Kremlin, said Mr Cheney’s remarks would have “negative consequences for Russian-American relations”.

“When making these kind of statements, you always have to keep in mind what the reaction from the other side will be, and it’s difficult for me to imagine that Russia is simply going to agree with these reproaches,” he said.

Kommersant has their view of “The Enemy at the Gates” here, while the London Times says, the “Cold War is reheated as Cheney tells off Moscow;” and they add…

Mr Cheney’s remarks will infuriate the Kremlin just when the US needs Russia’s support against Iran.

It’s all about the Oil (and the military bases) — On Friday, the day after “chastising Moscow for its use of oil and natural gas as “tools for intimidation and blackmail,” Vice President Dick Cheney visited Kazakhstan,” on Russia’s southern rim, “to promote export routes that bypass Russia and directly supply the West.” The NY Times reports…

The United States is also concerned about maintaining its military presence in Central Asia. The need became acute after Uzbekistan reacted to American criticism of its violent suppression of a demonstration last summer by expelling the Americans from an air base supporting operations in Afghanistan.

The United States’ other Central Asian base, in Kyrgyzstan, also seems to be on wobbly foundations, with the government there demanding higher rent payments and discussing whether to expel the Americans — cheered on by Russia and the Chinese, analysts say.

Kazakhstan is the largest and, many say, most stable country in the Caspian Sea region. The entire basin contains roughly 10 billion barrels of oil, much of it in Kazakhstan territory. Kazakhstan is second only to Russia in oil reserves among the countries once part of the Soviet Union.

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