Putin continued

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Now that I've gotten around to posting, I'm very glad to see that my concerns about Russian neo-imperialism have already been ably raised here on CoR.

Anastazia presents some chilling thoughts--that the new assertiveness of Putin's Russia, sustained by irrational feelings of "betrayal", may spread beyond what Kremlin hawks condescendingly call the "near abroad" into regions of significant international strategic concern. Indeed, current reports indicate that Putin is taking advantage of anti-American sentiment in NATO ally Turkey to increase its grip on the "Broader Middle East." When combined with his efforts in China, South Asia, and even Latin America, Putin's Middle East diplomacy seems to be part of a disturbing trend--one which may culminate in the formation of yet another anti-American bloc in Eurasia.

However, at least among American conservatives, there still exists some widespread sympathy for Russia stemming from the Beslan massacre in the North Caucasus, in the misguided belief that Russia and the United States are natural allies in the War on Terror. Although this sympathy should have disappeared in the wake of Putin's subsequent anti-democratic crackdown, it persists. Nick Gvosdev of The National Interest is one of the best advocates for continued American ties to Putin, and recently argued that concerns over the trend in domestic Russian politics are somewhat exaggerated.

I hope he's right--as much as we might all fondly reminisce about the Cold War, I don't think anyone wants to re-fight it. All the same, it greatly pleases me that, as Stephen points out, Bush made Putin "squirm" with some good ol' straight talking. As is hopefully clear from my introductory post, I am no raving neo-con either--but the Bratislava summit represented the perfect opportunity for Bush to use that fairly tall bully pulpit still available to presidents of the United States. I am glad he used it.