US and Russia relations have hit a new low reminiscent of the Cold War. Disputes over the future of Kosovo and the U.S. plan to install anti-missile systems in Poland and Czech Republic have soured the love affair between the Charlatan and Comrade Putin. Putin is accusing the U.S. of reigniting the arms race. It will take more than an invite to the Maine dacha to settle the differences to the satisfaction of a resurgent Russian bear.
Something else in the news reminds us of the terrible days of the Cold War. If its true that you end up secretly emulating your worse enemy, then the U.S. is no exception. Soviet interrogation techniques were closely studied by our armed forces so that they could train our captured pilots and other personnel to resist the techniques. Those methods of Soviet torture have been put to use in the so-called 'war on terror' against detainees at Guantanamo. According to a recently declassified report by the DoD Inspector General, SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) instructors were requested and sent to the gulag for training detainee interrogators. Several intelligence officers objected to the extreme methods, but their objections were ignored. The report says the techniques then "migrated" (the Pentagon has a way with words) to Iraq where they were also used to extract cooperation. In September 2003, a SERE team was sent to Iraq to evaluate interrogation techniques there. A government research panel recently found that torture does not produce reliable information, and one expert characterized the current efforts as "amateurish" compared to the more sophisticated psychological interrogation techniques used during WWII. Somebody should send the 325 page report to the Republican presidential candidates.