U.S. Is in No Shape to Give Advice, Medvedev Says

Wow, less arrogant than Vladimir Putin  but very plain and touchy about foreign critisism. Dmitri A Medvedev Russia's new president told US to keep it's advice to itself because the state of the American union is in no shape to lecture Russia  or other countries on how to conduct their own affairs.

With soaring oil revenues bolstering the Russian economy and Kremlin confidence, Mr. Medvedev brushed aside American criticism of his country’s record on democracy and human rights. He also said that a revived Russia had a right to assume a larger role in a world economic system that he suggested should no longer be dominated by the United States.

The Group of 8 exists not because someone likes or dislikes it, but because objectively, they are the biggest world economies and the most serious players from the foreign policy point of view,” Mr. Medvedev said. “Any attempts to put restrictions on anyone in this capacity will damage the entire world order.”

He added, “I am sure that any administration of the United States of America, if it wishes to succeed, among other things, in overcoming essentially a depression that exists in the American economic market, must conduct a pragmatic policy inside the country and abroad.”

Source: nytimes(click to read full story)