Cheney's remarks bring goal of 'UN failure to act' closer?

db: It is difficult to understand why Cheney chose a period of time when the US is ostensibly trying to build a consensus around the prospect of a chapter 7 resolution on Iran to launch his attack on Russia. Could it be that Cheney and others in the White House would prefer a 'coalition of the willing' to 'take care of Iran' - justified by a 'UN failure to act'? If so, Cheney's verbal hand grenade would serve this aim well. Gwynne Dyer proposes that the chapter 7 resolution is designed to fail.

guardian: Relations between the US and Russia sank to the lowest point in a decade yesterday 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".

Mr Putin, stung by an attack from Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, used his annual state of the nation address to denounce US expansionism and military spending. He also questioned Washington's record on democratic rights. Although he refrained from mentioning the US by name, it was clear that the "wolf" in question referred to Washington.

The deterioration in relations is risky for the US at a time when it is trying to persuade Russia to support a United Nations resolution against Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme.

The acrimony will also encourage senior US Republicans such as John McCain to renew calls for Mr Bush to boycott this year's meeting of the Group of Eight, the world's wealthiest countries, which is scheduled to be held in Russia for the first time.

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.

Mr Cheney, reflecting Washington's growing disenchantment, told a conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, last week that Russia was sending "mixed signals" over democracy, as well as using its energy resources to "intimidate and blackmail" neighbours.

Mr Putin, in his speech, noted that the American military budget was 25 times the size of Russia's and said the US had turned its home into a castle.

"Good for them," the Russian president said, looking up from his notes, directly at his audience, "but this means we must make our own home strong and reliable. Because we see what is happening in the world. We see it."

... "The negotiations for letting Russia into the WTO should not become a bargaining chip for questions that have nothing in common with the activities of this organisation," Mr Putin said. Link

Putin is not alone when he calls into question the abuse of US power:
Gorbachev-

14-4 - "The US reserves for itself the role in the international arena as prosecutor, judge and policeman. This could not but be rejected, and not only by Russia." Link
6-4 - "U.S. Has Illusion of Omnipotence" Link