SET THE WAYBACK MACHINE FOR THE COLD WAR

Vladimir Putin has been flexing Russia's energy enhanced muscles:

Russian leader Vladimir Putin's tough speech in Germany this weekend is a wake-up call to the harsh realities in EU-Russia relations, early reactions from European politicians say.

The bullish speech was seen by some analysts as a throwback to the Cold War era but US defence secretary Robert Gates played down the comparison, with US officials planning to go to Moscow to help clarify some of the Russian remarks.

Meanwhile, Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt told Reuters: "we should take [Putin] at his word. This was the real Russia of now and possibly in four or five years time it could go further in this direction."

Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg thanked the Russian leader ironically, saying that he had vindicated NATO's decision to take in members from the former Soviet east over the past decade.

Being intimately familiar with Russians, the eagerness of the Poles and Czechs to get under the U.S. defense umbrella is understandable. Never fear, the Force de frappe will defend old Europe. Heh.

Editing note: forgot to include the link. Corrected.