LIANE HANSEN, host:
It seemed the Cold War was about to break out again this weekend in Munich. Russian President Vladimir Putin used his first appearance at an annual security conference to harshly criticize U.S. foreign policy as driving other countries to arm themselves.
One subtext was Iran and it's drive to enrich uranium. NPR's Emily Harris is at the conference in Munich. Emily, what did Vladimir Putin actually say?
EMILY HARRIS: Well, Liane, he sketched out a world, a post-Cold War world, that he said only had basically one center of power anymore, and that was the United States, a country that he singled out as overstepping its boundaries in all areas, militarily, politically, and driving the world to the abyss of conflicts and creating a situation where there's no room for political solution and driving countries to arm themselves, even with nuclear weapons.
He also asked why NATO was expanding to Russia's borders, why the U.S. was putting missile defense equipment in Poland, and the Czech Republic planning to do that. He did, however, say he likes President Bush. He feels he's a man he can do business with, and he doesn't think that the U.S. and Russia will be enemies.
HANSEN: How did the attendees to the conference react to that?
HARRIS: With surprise, actually. First, it was quite a harsh speech in many ways. It really lit into things, right after he said he knew this was a forum where he could speak frankly.
The U.S. defense secretary, Robert Gates, spoke today, and part of his speech was to joke that he also was a spy, like Vladimir Putin had been, but he's been to re-education camp. Gates repeated that he doesn't think that there should be any new cold wars. That's not desired.
He said that missile defense was not against Russia, in response to Mr. Putin's questions. Gates said he would go visit to Russia, but he also pointed out that he doesn't understand, the U.S. doesn't understand, why Russia does certain things like sell arms to countries that the U.S. feels is unreliable and tends to use its power as an energy supplier to threaten Europe; at least that's the view of the United States and some people in Europe.
There was also reaction here, however, that at least Putin was honest, and there seems to be a lot to talk about.
HANSEN: Secretary Gates also, I understand, made a renewed push for more help in Afghanistan.
HARRIS: Yeah, this is something the U.S. has been pushing for quite a while now, really telling the Europeans, look, you support this mission. We need money, and we need more troops. Gates really laid it out.
He said this is the most prosperous industrial area of the world, two million people in uniform, not even counting the United States, and basically they have to get it together to support the mission in Afghanistan, particularly when it's not a divisive mission, when all the NATO countries agree on the goals in Afghanistan.
He puts it in terms of whether an offensive this spring will be the Taliban making an offensive or NATO making the offensive.
HANSEN: Ali Larijani, Iran's chief negotiator on nuclear issues, also addressed the conference today. Did he break any new ground, Emily, or make any new efforts to break the impasse that's going on over his country's nuclear program?
HARRIS: He didn't seem to really break any new ground. He did say that this issue, he thinks, can be resolved through dialogue, and he did say that Iran is ready to resolve any outstanding questions that the International Atomic Energy Agency has within three weeks.
We'll see what happens when they actually get down to continuing to talk. Larijani did say that - in response to questions that Iran is not a threat to anyone, including Israel, despite the comments previously of Iran's president that Israel should be wiped off the Earth.
Here, Larijani and President Putin where quite in tandem. Putin had mentioned that Russia had sold defensive air systems to Iran so that Iran would not feel cornered and threatened, and Larijani also said that any of the missiles that Iran has are purely for defensive purposes.
He said that the concerns about the nuclear research that Iran is carrying out are misplaced because Iran is only trying to make sure there will be fuel available for electricity production, which is the main goal, he said, of Iran's nuclear research program.
HANSEN: NPR's Emily Harris in Munich. Emily, thank you very much.
HARRIS: Nice to talk to you, Liane. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
