Dick Cheney doesn't mince words when it comes to Russia

Vice President Dick Cheney was scheduled to spend a half-hour today with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in Tbilisi. The meeting went more than twice that--and when he emerged, Cheney was spitting fire toward Moscow.

No surprise there, the Telegraph of London notes. No one had expected the vice president to mute his sharp line toward Moscow over its brief war with Georgia last month.

The newspaper wrote:

In comments that seemed intended to goad the already tetchy Russian government, the vice-president unequivocally took Georgia's side in its conflict with Moscow while warning the Kremlin that its relationship with the West was now in 'grave doubt.'

If that didn't catch the Kremlin's attention, there was the vice president's line that the United States was "fully committed" to Georgia's eventual membership in NATO.

Writing for the Los Angeles Times from Tbilisi, Alexandra Jinjikhashvili notes that "Cheney's remarks were likely to further inflame Moscow, where officials have railed against U.S. alliances with the former Soviet states."

It didn't help that Cheney was standing with Saakashvili, known in Moscow as a "war criminal" for launching the military operation in early August meant to control the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

-- James Gerstenzang

Comments

[JR]

Hurry January, we've got to be rid of these criminals. Bush/Cheney have only months left to finish the ruination of America.

[Marcus ceniceros]

It is not surprising to me at all. This guy Cheney lives and breathes war, in short he fits the description "War Monger". Whatever he can do to fan the flames... Cannot we see any other opinions here but his? It's particularly significant considering his buissiness ties as well.

[JFW]

Right On! It's about time the world stopped pandering to the people warning of a new Cold War and drawing lines in the sand. I hate war and what it does to people's lives. I also remember the lives of those of us who were impacted by living in the Soviet world. Putin and theirs is not the way to peace. We must support those who want the freedoms we enjoy. We must protect their rights. We must, or they will cease to exist--the rights, fhe freedoms, and the lives.

[sandra]

Dick Cheney is a greedy, self-serving, draft-dodging, egomaniacal lunatic who's actions have compromised America dearly...........I cannot stomach the man

[Richard]

When exactly did diplomacy die? Cheney is a fool. The only thing we have is nukes (and they do too!), our military is already stressed too far. Why doesn't this war monger back off and let the state department do its job?

[Ed Fladung]

There's a really good reason that Dick Cheney is fighting mad. It's because Russia gave him and his fellow neocons a black eye. Georgia is important to the administration because it is a vital link in the oil pipeline connecting the Caspian oil basin to the middle east bypassing Russia. The administration is such a poor player in the global diplomacy game that they really believed that they could put missiles in Poland on Russia's border and pour arms into Georgia to protect the oil pipeline. The problem is that they probably could have kept this game up for a while except that Russia decided to provoke an incident and the administration gave Saakashvili the green light to attack South Ossetia. I'm not sure what they were thinking since Russia had troops massed in their side of the border ready to crush the Georgian forces, which they did and Cheney is foaming at the mouth because once again his cowboy diplomacy has been revealed to be less than worthless. This has left the US is a terrible situation which will be hard to salvage. NATO will not blindly follow the administrations orders since the European countries are heavily dependent on Russian oil. Russia meanwhile is hurriedly building a pipeline to the Pacific aimed at delivering oil to China which is capable of buying a major portion of the Russian oil output.

In history this has been called "The Great Game" and this administration is making a mess of it. In this case, Russia is now holding all the cards.

[Leo Aryatsi]

The jewish and U.S. backed mad man will soon be out

[RABO]

As if Cheney had a leg to stand on when it comes to anyone for invading another country..... what an idiot!

[David]

It will be a great relief when this administration with its sophomoric view of world history is gone. It will be extremely difficult for any administration to restore any sensible or serious foreign policy among world leaders. It will take at least a full term to reestablish working relationships with other nations before anyone is even ready to listen to what we have to say.

It took this administration eight years to destroy years of previous administrations' -- Republican as well as Democratic -- careful planning and equal treatment of adversaries as well as friends. It is sometimes effective to bash your enemies, but this administration has taken pains to destroy ties to our longstanding allies.

These guys will go down in history as reigniting the Cold War and missing opportunities to extend peace and cooperation among the Nations of the World. It's only their messianic and arrogant attitudes and their lackey attendants regurgitating like-minded advice that have prevented any fair-minded assessment of their policies.

[Daniel]

The US can't afford going war with russia to protect Georgia, a tiny country which many Americans can't find in a map. We shouldn't let georgia to become member of NATO, if so the US will be forced to go Nuke to Nuke with Russia and it is going to be over for mankind in this planet.

[Donna H.]

Like any criminal allowed to roam loose, Cheney continues to endanger us all without restraint or regret.

[Donna H.]

And McCain seems to want to play the same losing game.

[larry]

Guns talk better than words. If Cheney brought his shotgun with him, the Russians would be scared.

Go through history there were many super power in the World before the current. They all passed away, the current super power can't be an exception. But they just have to keep on doing stupid things for such power to go away from them. So, let the current super power continue to do whatever she likes, it will soon be over and a new super power shall emerge.