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In Lithuania With Cheney Christopher Ruddy
If the Russian press is to be believed, Dick Cheney's speech in Vilnius, Lithuania, on May 4 ushered in a new Cold War. As someone who loves history, it is nice to know that I was one of the handful of people who can say "I was there" for that momentous speech. But the moment was far from gratifying on a philosophical level. My visit to the conference of former Soviet republics and allies that met to hear Vice President Cheney – along with several European leaders – underscored to me, as well, that the Cold War never really left us. I found it amusing that the Russians had a similar reaction. After Cheney chastised Russia for using an "energy weapon" – withholding oil and gas from countries near it to bully them into submission – the Russian press (read: government press) was quick to announce that a new Cold War was at hand. The Kommersant business daily compared Cheney's speech to Winston Churchill's famous "Iron Curtain" speech, saying it "marked the beginning of a second Cold War."
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During the conference, I met with leaders and representatives of many former satellite nations that the former Soviet Union once dominated and controlled. The fairytale history we read says that the U.S.S.R. simply capitulated in the great East-West struggle – and everyone lived happily ever after. But the facts tell a different story. We keep hearing that with the "demise" of the Soviet Union, the United States is the lone superpower. Critics of the United States suggest that because its power is so great, its thirst for empire so real, the United States must be checked by every nation, great and small. I suppose that America's near unilateral decision to invade Iraq seems to confirm this notion. But there are many cracks in this theory of America as a bullying superpower.
For example, three years into an Iraqi occupation, the nation is wracked by a civil war. Our great "superpower" strength is so stretched that schoolteachers and truck drivers who make up the National Guard have been forced to leave their jobs and families to support the war effort. So far, the "superpower" has been unable to "bully" a broad coalition of nations to join its effort to secure Iraq. At the end of the Cold War, the two superpowers were supposedly the United States and Russia – largely because of their immense nuclear arsenals. I visited Russia in the 1980s, well before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia then was a backward economic basket case – with a large nuclear arsenal. Today, Russia is far more economically powerful – witness its economic bullying of countries like Georgia, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Poland. As the world's second-largest oil producer, Russia is a major global economic power player, something that was not true in 1991 when the Soviet Union ended. Let's not forget that Russia still has an incredible nuclear arsenal. As a result of the START II agreement, both Russia and the United States agreed to keep their strategic nuclear weapons at parity – with each side holding roughly 6,000 warheads. Since then, and rather interestingly, the United States has destroyed most, if not all, of its smaller tactical nuclear warheads. Meanwhile, Russia has maintained a considerable tactical stockpile – with estimates of between 15,000 and 20,000 weapons still available for use. Thus, Russia has retained its nuclear superpower status, but is much stronger today economically. Yet we are still told that the United States is the lone superpower. Russia's President Vladimir Putin doesn't see it that way. He is cocky for a fight. He recently likened the United States to a voracious wolf and said in a televised address: "It is premature to speak of the end of the arms race. ... We must always be ready to counter any attempts to pressure Russia." He told his parliament that Russia is beginning a new buildup of advanced nuclear weapons and missiles. Other factors have undermined America's "superpower" status. When the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, the United States did not also have to deal with a powerful European Union, which was formed largely to counterweight the United States. Today, the EU represents the world's largest economy, with a combined GDP more than $1 trillion larger than that of the United States. And it has introduced its own currency, the euro, as a competitor to the U.S. dollar. In recent years, the dollar has fallen about 40 percent against the euro. Some superpower we are. If that was not enough to challenge the superpower status of the United States, China has emerged as a great regional and nuclear power in Asia. China was a trifle back when the U.S.S.R. broke up in 1991. Add to the mix that the nuclear club has been enlarging: States like North Korea and Pakistan now have the bomb, and Iran will soon have it. None could be said to be pro-American. My point here is that the United States is not a superpower with the omnipotent powers our detractors say we have and that we must be brought down a notch or two. Back to Lithuania. I was indeed impressed by Lithuania. It is a country on the move. Lithuanians have lived under the thumb of tyranny, first under the Nazis and then for half a century under Soviet rule. Today they have a vibrant economy – with a growth rate of 6.7 percent last year. Lithuania has pro-American leadership under the presidency of Valdas Adamkus, who lived for nearly five decades in the United States and was a high-ranking member of the EPA before he decided in the 1990s to return to his homeland and run for office. Despite its success, powerful forces do not like Lithuania's independence or pro-American tilt. Putin's Russia seeks hegemony over its former satellite states. Through official pressure, the use of private companies and even criminal gangs, Russia still wants to assert itself in countries like Lithuania. In the Republic of Belarus, Russia has assisted President Aleksandr Lukashenko in creating a new Stalinist state. I met several Belarusian dissidents, who at the risk of their lives have been fighting Lukashenko's dictatorship. Dick Cheney's words to the freedom-loving Eastern Europeans may have been late in coming, but they were critical in asserting that America still stands with our friends. "No legitimate interest is served when oil and gas become tools of intimidation or blackmail," he said, "and no one can justify actions that undermine the territorial integrity of a neighbor or interfere with democratic movements." President Adamkus declared at the conference: "Even if the choice of democracy is open to all states and peoples, the threat of new Iron Curtains in minds and on the ground has not disappeared." Faced with this new menace from Russia, America the "superpower" should reaffirm and rebuild its alliances to counter them – because we cannot defend freedom alone.
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