Now George Bush single handedly restarts the cold war and the arms race.
Well, with help from Tony.
They can't even seem to win the hearts and minds of people we stopped fighting in 1989.
Putin threatens to point nuclear missiles at EuropeAdrian Blomfield, Moscow
June 5, 2007
Vladimir Putin gestures during the interview
with newspapers from the G8 nations at his residence in
Novo-Ogaryovo, outside Moscow.
Photo: AFPPRESIDENT Vladimir Putin has sent a chilling message to world leaders on the eve of the G8 summit with a threat to aim Russian nuclear missiles at European cities for the first time since the Cold War.
In comments that seemed calculated to cause consternation and division at tomorrow's meeting in Germany, the Russian leader said that American plans to erect a missile defence shield in eastern Europe had left him with no choice but to retaliate.
"If the US nuclear potential extends across the European territory, we will get new targets in Europe," he said in an interview with newspapers from the Group of Eight industrialised nations.
"It will then be up to our military experts to identify which targets will be aimed by ballistic missiles and which ones will be aimed by cruise missiles," he said.
Mr Putin acknowledged that targeting Europe would escalate an arms race he says has already begun.
Mr Putin's anti-Western rhetoric has grown more strident since Washington confirmed plans to locate 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic by 2012 — a project he believes is directed at Russia.
With more disputes between Russia and other G8 members brewing, the strain in East-West relations will overshadow a summit that the German hosts wanted to focus on the environment and African poverty.
Despite hopes that an invitation for direct talks with US President George Bush next month would mollify Mr Putin's anger, the Russian President sent out a clear signal that he preferred combat to compromise.
At his last summit with fellow leaders from the G8, British Prime Minister Tony Blair can expect a particularly frosty reception when he meets Mr Putin on the sidelines of the summit.
The Kremlin is outraged by Britain's demand to extradite Andrei Lugovoi over the murder of his fellow KGB veteran Alexander Litvinenko, accusing London of exploiting the case for political ends. Mr Putin went one step further at the weekend, accusing Britain of providing shelter to terrorists — a reference to the political asylum granted by the courts to Boris Berezovsky, a tycoon and the president's chief foe, and to Akhmad Zakayev, an envoy of the anti-Russian Chechen rebels.
Diplomats suggested Mr Putin's rhetoric was attempting to persuade European powers that the shield, which is ostensibly meant to protect the West from nuclear attack by a rogue Middle Eastern country, was not worth the risk of provoking Russia.
It is unclear to what extent Mr Putin's threat may be bluff.
But, he insisted: "It was not us who started altering the strategic balance."
The president refused to be drawn on which European cities could be targeted. "It is up to our military to define these targets, in addition to defining the choice between ballistic and cruise missiles," he said. "But this is just a technical aspect."
America has ruled out abandoning the shield, expressing exasperation that Russia has rebuffed repeated invitations to participate in the project.
US officials have called Moscow's fears "preposterous", arguing that the 10 conventional missiles at the heart of the shield would be no match for Russia's huge arsenal.
Russia has an estimated 16,000 nuclear warheads, the world's largest stockpile, with 7200 said to be operational.
TELEGRAPH, AFP
