From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Are the U.S. and Russia in for a soft Cold War?

Hello again, I'm a Mormon Al-Ne, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International,

a daily look at the issues. Americans care about most.

As President Bush prepares for next month's G8 summit in Russia, relations between the two countries are going sour.

Presidents Bush and Putin are friendly, but Vice President Cheney has been publicly critical of Russia's democracy and its power plays with gas and oil.

On to the point, has Russia given up on its effort to integrate

with the West? As European dependence on Russian resources, given Putin extraordinary new power,

despite his country's military decline, we'll talk to experts in Moscow and the U.S.

about what to expect when it comes to Iran and other contentious issues.

On reporter's notebook, saving the world's food crops from global disaster.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur

Foundation. Hello again, Warren Alney, back with To the Point. As Vladimir Putin prepares to host the G8

summit next month, when leading Russian says his country has given up on integration with the West.

On To the Point, we'll hear from Moscow and the U.S. about democracy, oil and gas, Iran, and other possible

points of great power confrontation. On reporter's notebook, we'll hear about the doomsday vault,

which will hold the seeds of all the world's food crops. Why is it needed? Why is it being

constructed near the North Pole? First, this news update at the trial of Saddam Hussein today,

the chief prosecutor called for the death penalty.

Scott Peterson is covering the story for the Christian Science Monitor.

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