Putin told us what he would do years ago
| 'A less complex time'?  Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech on February 9, 2007, in Munich during the 43rd Conference on Security Policy.  European leaders, US Vice President Kamala Harris and lawmakers flock to the Munich Security Conference this week, which will serve as a rallying point as the West faces its sternest test in decades.
Putin also lashed out at NATO expansion to include ex-Soviet satellite states, which he saw as a serious provocation. "We have the right to ask: Against whom is this expansion intended," he said, and protested that the former Soviet Union had allowed walls and divides to tumble but that NATO's march eastward had erected new ones. Then-US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a former top intelligence official, quipped: "As an old Cold Warrior, one of yesterday's speeches almost filled me with nostalgia for a less complex time. Almost."
Putin has already shown he'll never allow Ukraine to join the Western club even if he doesn't invade. He can turn up the heat again anytime he thinks Russia's demands for recognition and a say in Europe's security architecture are being ignored. The idea that the US can just look past Russia and get on with its new clash with China has been shattered in the last few weeks.
While the crisis may cool, allowing Americans to get back to tearing their own democracy apart, it's not going away. Putin will be a constant headache. The US might think the Cold War ended 30 years ago. But the Russian leader is still waging something very much like it because it is a way to demand respect for his country's power, status and goals.
The world and America The US and NATO say Russia is still building up troops near Ukraine
France's foreign minister says an Iran nuclear crisis could be days away
London police are probing a scandal linked to Prince Charles' charity
The trucker protesters are refusing to back down in Ottawa
Meanwhile in America ... A 6-year-old girl missing for two years is found alive under a staircase
Most remote workers don't want to go back to the office
Another winter storm is looming Biden shifts climate push into high gear  President Joe Biden drives a GM Hummer in Detroit on November 17, 2021. President Joe Biden is an unapologetic car guy. But that's not stopping him from throwing ex-President Donald Trump's assault on climate change regulation into reverse, CNN's Devan Cole writes for Meanwhile.
The administration's latest target is Trump's decision in 2019 to bar California from setting its own vehicle emissions standards. Biden's move means the environmentally conscious Golden State will once again have the authority to set standards that are stricter than those set by the federal government, something it has been able to do for decades because of a waiver under the Clean Air Act.
"The restoration of our state's decades-long Clean Air Act waiver will be a major victory for the environment, our economy and the health of Americans across the country in states that have chosen to adopt our pioneering standards," Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
Noting that Biden's Environmental Protection Agency recently issued new emissions standards for cars and light trucks, California Air Resources Board member Daniel Sperling said the forthcoming state waiver will likely mean the state will go farther than the federal government in standards for heavy-duty trucks. California's policy is significant because the state has a vast economy and it pushes car manufacturers to make sure all new vehicles satisfy its standards so they can be sold nationwide.
Biden has made good on other promises to undo his predecessor's climate and environmental record. A year ago this week the US rejoined the Paris agreement, something he had pledged to do on the campaign trail after Trump took the US out of the international accord to limit global warming.
"I guess I shouldn't apologize, but I do apologize for the fact that the United States -- the last administration pulled out of the Paris accord. It put us sort of behind the eight ball a little bit," the President told world leaders in November at the Glasgow climate conference.
Last summer, Biden signed a bill repealing a Trump-era rule that rolled back regulations on methane emissions -- a particularly potent greenhouse gas believed to contribute significantly to the climate crisis -- from the oil and gas industries. And in December, his Department of Energy reversed a Trump-era rule that rolled back water efficiency standards for showerheads, dealing another blow to his Republican predecessor's controversial environmental legacy.
Read more about California's efforts to cut down on gas guzzlers from CNN's Ella Nilsen. Thanks for reading. On Thursday, US President Joe Biden will travel to Cleveland and Lorain, Ohio, and deliver remarks on the bipartisan infrastructure law. The UN Security Council will hold discussions on the Minsk agreements, which were designed to end a separatist war by Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine. European Union leaders arrive in Brussels for a summit with African Union leaders. The Progress 80 cargo craft docks at the International Space Station. Face coverings will be optional for fully vaccinated guests indoors and outdoors at the Disneyland and Walt Disney World resorts. View in browser | All CNN Newsletters
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