rational geekery

Dick Chaney came to Vilnius and made a Fulton speech 2 declaring a Cold War 2 with Russia. The dichotomy was very clear and simple – either Russia becomes democratic or it becomes an enemy. That was definitely a shock to everyone. Last time such obnoxiously rude rhetoric we heard twenty five years ago from Ronald Reagan and the addressee was the Soviet Union. Putin was given a very strong signal – America takes freedom and democracy very, very, very seriously. Next day Dick goes to Kazakhstan and every Russian who took his words very seriously did expect to hear Cheney using 4-letter words describing the state of democracy in that country. Instead Cheney was mumbling how happy he was with democracy in Kazakhstan and patted Khan Nazarbayev on the shoulder for moving in the right direction. Next day we are informed that Nazarbayev agreed to join the trans-Kaspian pipe construction....