Moscow's Red Square

Basil, originally uploaded by vrrchrd.

I, for one, am glad to hear that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has pronounced that there's no ''new Cold War'' between Russia and the U.S.

As the Times reported Rice as saying yesterday en route to Moscow where she plans to meet with President Putin: ''I don't throw around terms like 'new Cold War. It is a big, complicated relationship, but it is not one that is anything like the implacable hostility'' the two nations experienced during the 50-year Cold War.

''It is critically important to use this time to enhance those things that are going well and to work on those things that are not going well.

''Russia is not the Soviet Union, so this is not a U.S.-Soviet relationship, this is a U.S.-Russian relationship,'' said Rice, who as the Times wrote is "an expert on the Cold War who first visited Moscow in 1979."

''A great deal has a changed.'

"'This is a big and complex place that is going through a major historic transformation.''

After having been here now for all of one day, that's my impression too.