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Talks of Cold War with Russia is 'nonsense': Rice AFP US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice rejected the idea of a new Cold War with Moscow as "hyperbolic nonsense" on Wednesday, while criticising the lack of political freedom in Russia. In a speech to the formal opening of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Rice took several swipes at the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin over energy policy and a lack of checks on state power. "To be sure, there have been disappointments," she said, urging Moscow to contribute to a "transparent and open global energy economy" rather than a monopolistic one. Russia's state-run energy monopoly Gazprom has been criticised for using bully-boy tactics to negotiate price increases from buyers of its gas and is seen by some as a geopolitical lever of the Kremlin.
While acknowledging that Russians today enjoyed "considerable" personal and economic freedoms, she stressed that the pace of democratic reform left much to be desired. "We believe that Russia's greatness will ultimately be secured best through greater political freedom for its people -- and through the establishment of strong institutions that check the power of the state, rather than serve the interests of a few," she said. Relations between Washington and Moscow have deteriorated in recent months to the point that some of the rhetoric has left some observers recalling the dark days of the Cold War. A particular source of tension has been Moscow's staunch opposition to plans to site a US missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. General Nikolai Solovtsov, Russia's nuclear weapons chief, has threatened to target the shield, which Washington insists is solely aimed at protecting against so-called rogue states like Iran. Despite the diplomatic wrangles, Rice stressed that the problems in bilateral ties were a long way from the threat of mutual atomic destruction that dominated relations with the former Soviet Union. "The recent talk about a new Cold War is hyperbolic nonsense," she said. "Whatever the difficulties, no one can imagine a world in which the absence of US-Russian cooperation will make any of our challenges easier to solve," she added. She specifically cited ongoing cooperation on such issues as counter-proliferation, counter-terrorism and the pursuit of peace in the Middle East. "We are determined to remember this, even when we hear unwise and irresponsible rhetoric from Russia that harkens back to an earlier time," she said.
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