Bush Quickly Moves To Shore Up Worsening Relations Between The U.S. And Russia

In a desperate attempt to improve worsening relations with the Russian government, Bush has phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to discuss a wide range of bilateral and international issues and will send Secretary Of State Condoleezza Rice to visit Moscow next month to discuss the two nations frictions over the proposed deployment of a missile defense system in Eastern Europe and other issues.

This past week, President Putin used language that compared the U.S. foreign policy to Nazi Germany, which was perhaps the tougest language he has used yet. And the proposed Eastern European missile defense system has only encouraged the Russians to develop a new hypersonic cruise missile as well work on new generation of nuclear bombers. With the enhanced oil wealth of the nation under Putin, Russia now has the financial assets available to undertake new arms projects.

The U.S. hopes to stop the steady slide of relations between the two nations, and instead inspire a better understanding. The upcoming G-8 Conference to be held next month in Germany could well provide a new icy friction point if relations are not improved very soon.

It will be extremely easy for a new Cold War to develop between the two nations unless the steady slide in relations is not halted and reversed. And Russian cooperation on situations such as Iran are desperately needed by the U.S. as well.