Why the tolerance of this missile shield on the part of Western European countries, and why the eagerness on the part of Czechs and Poles? I assume it’s bribery, as well as a champagne-enhanced affinity for America induced at think tank soirees, that explains the latter countries, but, really, the whole thing baffles me. The stated raison d’etre for the shield (Iranian missiles) is ludicrous on its face, while I can’t see how it provides any real security against Russia, particulary against its oil weapon, and as a “bargaining chip” it’s diminishing in value. Who, outside the U.S. interests, is gaining from this?

And Putin’s not a better leader than Bush? Bush has stripped the country, lost two wars and suppressed democracy. Putin’s only done one of those things.

Unfortunately, the disdain the rest of the world feels for [Bush] will increasingly translate into disdain for the United States. January 2009 can’t come soon enough.

FWIW, looks like it’s going to be far worse than ‘disdain’.
Weekend catchup reading turned up this must-read item, which has some ominous implications:
http://www.upi.com/Internation…..rt_1/6513/

Just yesterday, Scott Ritter, pointed out an ominous conjunction of events that strongly suggest the US will attack Iran, most likely in April: http://www.campaigniran.org/ca…..=node/4564

Imagine if the US attacked Iran?
The Sadr forces would cut off supply lines south to Kuwait.
Don’t think it can happen?
My old military history Prof said over… and over… and over… and over… ‘no army can win if they run into logistical problems; even Napoleon fell prey to logistical problems, when he overreached and invaded Moscow.’

Don’t mean to be a fear monger, but there seem to be some off-key things showing up in odd places. If these articles are correct, all Bush has to do is declare war on Iran and send missiles flying, sooner rather than later.

“Putin is no better a leader than Bush, he’s just a whole lot smarter.”

I find I must disagree. Putin, as opposed to our very own putrid Shrub, for all his failings, has improved the lot of the average Russian, has strengthened Russia’s economy, has improved Russia’s esteem in the world at large. Does this sound like what the Shrub has done for America?

Khrushchev banging his shoe on the desk. Running a parade around the block a few time and completely fooling the west as to the number of missiles he had…

The cold war’s most senior and public face was basically the two of our leaders fuckin’ with each other.

The embarrassing part is the Russian were always so much better at making us look stupid.

Bush has benefitted from the Clinton nation building efforts in Eastern Europe, as well as those of US presidents of the earlier two decades when NATO seemed to falter then gain a second wind.

As the spook himself is accustomed to the double meanings of public speech and diplomacy, I am sure he brought his own personal agenda of worries, perhaps not at all voiced during the banquet he crashed, about matters such as the ghostplane incidents that kept plaguing spokespersons in the US trying to soften the enunciated fictions of people like Rice, and Flanigan over the past few years as the US state sponsored torture practices became the laughingstock of public opinion among former US allies. Not exactly the kind of embarrassment Putin would have anticipated, but I am sure he is satisfied with the slowed pace of expansion of free speech in the Newly Independent States as well as in his own Russia.

It is similarly probable Pushkin and annointee Dmitri Medvedev approve of the Bush administration’s ongoing efforts to prevent congress from learning about the genesis of the Bush administration’s ongoing efforts to prevent congress from learning about the genesis of the US torture programs, as, the more details reach the public, the greater the pressure for return to a more open US society. So Putin gets to view Bush on the slippery slope that divides rule by fiat from the messy processes which characterize democracy. The only catch for Putin might be the historic unevenness of outcomes from a formal sceptre passing modality of relinquishing control of the reins of the state; certainly the US Republican and Democratic parties are experiencing some similar pressures to morph genuinely.

Putin set aside the ‘niceties’ of pomp and ceremony to show Bush what real Power looks like: Stripping away the Friends Bush assumed he had UE-like Total Command over…and showing it to Not-So-Smirky over a meal, courtesy of a seat given by an honorable man, who had been dishonored by Bush.

Proving, once again, Lao Tzu’s maxim from ‘The Art of War’ – The best enemy to have is a predictable one.

Putin strolled-in and served Bush a ‘facial,’ right in front of “Bush’s Alliance,” in the glaring lights of the World Power Stage.

Bush is our Pariah now.

Who are We?

In any event, as long as Russia is not seen as threatening western Europe, the ties will grow. Can you imagine a TGV Berlin – Moscow?