U.S.-Russia fray under Bush

[cal04]

President Bush may have liked what he saw when he first peered into Vladimir Putin's soul nearly six years ago. Yet while Bush was looking away, the sunnier horizon he sought with Russia turned cloudy.

Testy, suspicious and defined by misunderstandings and perceived hurts, the relationship between the Cold War powers has worsened steadily on Bush's watch.

A worried Bush is sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for fence-mending with Moscow this week, just three weeks after a similar mission by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Bush also called Putin on Thursday. The two leaders are to meet next month in Germany, and Washington is trying to prevent a diplomatic disaster.

(snip)
The U.S. looks at Putin's consolidation of power and sees a dangerous retrenchment on basic democratic principles. Russia tunes out the lecture from a world power it considers overbearing and hypocritical.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070512/ap_on_an/us_russia

[Lobster Martini]

1. W's nickname for Putin: Pootie-Poot (really!)

Quoting from BBC: "Mr. Bush has given Vladimir Putin, the steely-faced son of the KGB and now President of Russia, a nickname. It is Pootie-Poot."

Both will be gone relatively soon, but Pootie-Poot is more likely to hand-pick his successor.

[David__77]

2. The US has been screwing Russia for 16 years.

Actually, longer. For 20 years. There's been a concerted effort to encircle Russia with US bases and firepower, and to strip it of its strategic equilibrium with the US. I see little wonder that the Russian officials, as well as common people, would have great distrust and dislike for the US government.

[melody]

4. Forces in Russia (and the EU) have been in a strategic war against the real US for decades

And George Bush is a big part of their strategy.

[Deja Q]

3. Putin's been accused of killing his own people...

Including people poisoned to death from radiation...

All that matters is, will corporations start offshoring over there? It's funny; all these countries that hate us have no qualms taking jobs...

[melody]

5. Putin is a Russian Bush

They're both cut out of the same bolt of cloth.