WP: Bush Says He Wants to Keep Ties With Putin

[kskiska]

Bush Says He Wants to Keep Ties With Putin

President Bush reaffirmed his "good personal relationship" with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday despite democratic rollbacks that prompted a leading U.S. advocacy organization to declare Russia "not free" for the first time since 1989, before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Bush said he has pressed Putin on some of the Kremlin's crackdown on political opposition but is determined to preserve the strong ties the two established at their first meeting in Slovenia in 2001, when the president declared that he had looked into the Russian's soul and found a partner. Senior administration officials said yesterday that Bush plans to meet with Putin in Slovakia in February during a European tour.

"Vladimir Putin and I have got a good personal relationship, starting with our meeting in Slovenia," Bush said during his year-end news conference. "I intend to keep it that way."

Bush used the word "democracy" repeatedly to express his aspirations for Iraq and the Palestinians, but characterized the issue in Russia as one of "balance of power." He noted that he expressed concern about Putin's decision to eliminate election of governors and appoint them himself.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14889-2004Dec20.html

[Aviation Pro]

1. Guess it's still not a mistake.....

...to look into the soul of an ex-KGB Colonel and find that he's good (according to one's own divining).

[deadparrot]

2. Considering they're on a first-name basis, I'm not surprised.

[bvar22]

3. Putin survived over 20 years in the KBG.

He has seen weak and stupid before.
I'm sure he will continue to play with george w. stupid*.

[cliss]

4. Yup.

I have this funny feeling the rest of the world knows the score. There's an incredible article by Stan Goff on CounterPunch where he explains that the rest of the world has now understood we're teetering on the brink of collapse.

He said they're just waiting us out. They know chances are we won't be able to survive the financial disasters of our own making (our current balance of trade deficit, the currency crisis, the wars which are hemorrhaging us financially, the battle for oil which caused us to go in there in the first place).

In the meantime, they're jockeying for position. They are trying to predict how long it will be till the giant comes tumbling down and what will happen afterwards.
:smoke:

[kittykitty]

5. Can't find the Stan Goff article in CounterpPunch-where?when?link?

[cliss]

6. I found it.

It's in the CounterPunch archives, but here is where there is another article on the internet:

http://www.freedomroad.org/milmatters_5_overreach.html

Note Stan Goff is a socialist. I'm not; I'm a democrat, however his articles are so right-on from a military point of view.

I agree with his problems, I don't agree with his solutions.

[kittykitty]

7. Thank You, cliss!

[Califooyah Operative]

8. it's because he looked into his eyes and his heart and such. nt

[maddezmom]

9. AP- Bush May Take Tougher Line With Putin

Bush May Take Tougher Line With Putin

By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON - The president who said he looked into Vladimir Putin (news - web sites)'s soul three years ago and liked what he saw may take a dimmer view of the Russian president now. How to deal with the increasingly authoritarian leader is giving the Bush administration a second-term headache.


President Bush (news - web sites) will meet with Putin in Slovakia in February, when he travels to Europe for fence-mending talks with allies who oppose the U.S.-led war in Iraq (news - web sites). Formal announcement of the meeting was expected Tuesday.


"Both Washington and Moscow are having some second thoughts at the moment," said Rose Gottemoeller, a specialist on defense and nuclear issues in Russia and the other former Soviet states at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "They are trying to judge what the next four years can bring."


Bush faces two vital decisions, several Russia analysts said: whether to take a harder line against erosion of democratic and economic freedom in Russia; and how much to rely on personal diplomacy to resolve differences and deal with mutual problems such as the potential spread of nuclear weapons.

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=693&e=2&u=/ap/20041221/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_russia


Wonder when the Russian Expert Condi will be on the job??