Germany:Cold War rhetoric left a chill at this year's Munich security conference after Russia accused the US of starting a new arms race and blundering from one "unilateral, illegitimate" war to the next.
In his debut performance at the conference, Russian president Vladimir Putin promised delegates a polemic, and stole the show by claiming the US had "overstepped its borders in every way".
"We are seeing a greater and greater disdain for the basic principles of international law," said Mr Putin. "Today we are witnessing an almost uncontained, hyper use of force - military force - in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts.
"As a result, we do not have sufficient strength to find a comprehensive solution to any one of these conflicts."
Gathering steam, the usually stone-faced Russian leader flushed as he described the eastward expansion of Nato and plans for a US missile defence system in the Czech Republic as a breach of earlier agreements and a "serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust".
"The stones and concrete blocks of the Berlin Wall have long been hauled away as souvenirs," he said. "And now they are trying to impose new dividing lines and walls on us . . . ones that cut through our continent."
US secretary of defence Robert Gates attempted to defuse the Russian leader's strong words, joking that "one Cold War was quite enough".
"As an old Cold warrior, one of yesterday's speeches almost filled me with nostalgia for a less complex time. Almost," said Mr Gates, a former head of the CIA. Like Mr Putin, he had a career "in the spy business. And, I guess, old spies have a habit of blunt speaking,"
That said, the defence secretary noted what he called Moscow's "temptation to use energy resources for political coercion".
Then, making his own Cold War reference, Mr Gates defended Nato as a "shield" against "those who seek through violence and crimes against the innocent to dominate others".
Nato secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer described Mr Putin's speech as "disappointing and not helpful", while Czech foreign minister Carl Schwarzenberg thanked Mr Putin for a speech which "clearly and convincingly" justified the rush of former Warsaw Pact countries in the 1990s to join Nato.
Conference delegates shocked by Mr Putin's remarks were scarcely placated hours later when his spokesman said the speech was not about "confrontation but concern", commensurate with Russia's growing international stature.
Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt echoed those remarks, saying Mr Putin's speech gave an indication of the direction in which Russia was heading.
Meanwhile, the Munich conference gave further indications of growing international disunity over future strategy in Afghanistan and Iran. Mr Gates upbraided his Nato allies for not meeting the organisation's guarantees on military spending levels and for their hesitancy on committing further troops to bring Afghanistan under control.
"Our failure to do so would be a mark of shame," he said.
But German chancellor Angela Merkel stood firm on her government's position that "success can only lie in a united approach, in which civil as well as military elements find their place".
Germany's preference for diplomatic solutions over military action extends to Iran, but talks about resolving the nuclear stand-off with the Islamic republic were overshadowed when Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would continue its nuclear programme and it would be a "humiliation" to concede.
Dr Merkel warned Iran it faced "deeper isolation" unless it complied with the requests of the international community over its nuclear programme, "without ifs and buts and without tricks".
German foreign minister Frank Walter Steinmeier was scheduled to meet conference speaker Ali Laridschani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, yesterday. Before the meeting could take place, however, Mr Laridschani shocked delegates by saying he viewed the Holocaust as an "open question".
By choosing doubt over denial, he narrowly avoided breaking German laws that prohibit calling the Holocaust into question.
US senator Linsey Graham replied: "If you really have doubts about the Holocaust, the concentration camp Dachau is only a few kilometres from here. Visit it."