Cheney wants Russia to stop using energy supplies for "blackmail"

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/Cheney_rebukes_Russia_on_democracy.html?siteSect=143&sid=6683658&cKey=1146733830000

Cheney rebukes Russia on democracy

VILNIUS (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, in one of the Bush administration's sharpest rebukes to Moscow, accused Russia on Thursday of backsliding on democracy and urged it to stop using energy supplies for "blackmail".

"Russia has a choice to make," Cheney told Baltic and Black Sea leaders at a summit in Vilnius, calling on Moscow to return to democratic reform at a time of increasingly chilly relations between the United States and Russia.

He said opponents of reform in Russia were "seeking to reverse the gains of the last decade" by restricting democratic rights and warned President Vladimir Putin some of Moscow's actions could hurt relations with other countries.

But Cheney told leaders of post-communist nations with a history of domination by the former Soviet Union: "None of us believes that Russia is fated to become an enemy."

[Lerkfish]

1. cool. Lets piss off EVERY FRICKIN COUNTRY IN THE WORLD

that's that PNAC "global leadership" thang.

[acmavm]

2. Is that the sound of laughter coming from the entire Russian

population that I hear?

[snappyturtle]

3. It's a case of the pot----

calling the kettle black! YES, we're trying to piss off the entire world...* refuses to meet with Norway's prime minister and the head of state from Taiwan can't re-fuel here on the lower 48---Great! :sarcasm:

[ixion]

4. yeah, only WE get to do that

:sarcasm:

[elehhhhna]

5. FUCK YOU CHENEY--Nobody's listening