Biden vows break with Bush era foreign policy

By Ross Colvin and Noah Barkin

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden promised a sharp break from the go-it-alone policies of the Bush era in a major speech on Saturday, saying it was time to "reset" Washington's ties with Russia and talk to Iran.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, an annual gathering of leaders and defense experts, Biden said the new U.S. administration of President Barack Obama was determined to "set a new tone" in Washington and with its allies.

In the wide-ranging 25-minute address, Biden focused on relations with Moscow, badly strained by Russia's brief war last year with Georgia and U.S. plans to put a missile shield in central Europe.

"The last few years have seen a dangerous drift in relations between Russia and the members of our Alliance," Biden said in the first major foreign policy speech by the new administration.

"It's time, to paraphrase President Obama, to press the reset button and to revisit the many areas where we can and should work together," he said.

Biden conceded that Washington and Moscow would not agree on everything, citing the Georgia conflict and referring to Russia's resistance to its neighbors joining NATO.

"We will not recognize any nation having a sphere of influence. It will remain our view that sovereign states have the right to make their own decisions and choose their own alliances," Biden said. "But the United States and Russia can disagree and still work together where our interests coincide and they coincide in many places."

In the audience as Biden spoke were the leaders of Germany and France as well as the deputy prime minister of Russia -- all countries that clashed with former President George W. Bush over his invasion of Iraq six years ago.