I think Putin is cleverly taking advantage of worldwide Bush hatred

[blm]

by visiting other countries and establishing ties with them or strengthening the ones they had.

Countries that used to favor and trust the US are now finding Russia to be a more trustworthy relationship and wiser counsel.

Personally, I think Ronald Reagan would kick Georgie Boy's ass from Here to Eternity for this result. Bush completely altered the world's preception of the US as the "good guy" in less than one term.

[Liberal Veteran]

1. I think throwing our weight around in such a rude manner....

...is going to blow up in our face, big time.

Nobody, but nobody, likes a bully.

[gWbush is Mabus]

7. rednecks do

[shadowknows69]

10. and bullies (and empires) always fall

[K-W]

2. Russia has its own PR problems, but im sure he is taking advantage.

At the same time the US has been on the offensive in limiting Russia's power as it is.

[IrateCitizen]

3. Putin is quite wily in this regard...

He has made statements of rapproachment with the European Union in the past as well, saying basically that while it's important for Europe to maintain a positive relationship with the United States, that perhaps Europe could see that it shares much more as far as regional and cultural sensibilities with Russia.

Putin knows that Russia can only stand to win from the EU and/or Japan strengthening ties with Russia. Russia sits on perhaps the second-largest oil and gas deposits on the earth, and the EU and Pacific Rim will probably be soon looking for ways to end-around US control over the global oil spigot.

While the authoritarian tendencies that Russia is reverting to are NOT encouraging, it is encouraging that Russia has experienced positive economic growth for the past several years running, and seems to be finding its niche in world influence.

[DinahMoeHum]

4. Methinks Putin is playing Bush for, well, a bush.

IOW, a cherry.

:evilfrown:

[stevedeshazer]

5. No doubt about it

And why wouldn't he? By the time this Bush/neocon nightmare is over, the Russians and the Chinese will be in the driver's seat.

Putin's no dummy.

[stellanoir]

6. I think you are right.

Arrogance is the most idiotic foreign policy we could have possibly adopted. The world will not stand for another 4 years of this.

Putin is former KGB. Unlike *, he is not stupid. Nor is he, at all interested in democracy.

Look at what he did to the oligharch (can't spell his name-Kordachovski??) who dared to support his opposition. He through him in jail and broke up his oil company (Yukos).

We've got more trouble than the bozo's in charge can handle. The complicit media will not be able to contain what is going to go down.

Truth will come out in the end.

[cliss]

8. Agreed.

Where did we EVER get the notion that we were the Leader of the World. We are the world's biggest economy, that's true. But look at the stats: we comprise 3.8% of the world's population. We USE UP 25 to 30% of the world's natural resources with our gluttonous habits. We are the world's biggest importer.

On a bad note, we are the world's biggest debtor nation. Just to China alone, we owe them in the order of $160 billion, and we show no signs of repaying that massive debt any time soon. If we were a corporation, we'd be bankrupt right now.

Where did they ever get the idea that they have anything to be arrogant about? It's true that we have the world's strongest military, but that can change quite quickly. In fact, as we speak, we're currently spending $5.8 billion dollars a month in Iraq alone. This cannot continue indefinitely. We will run out of money at some point.

And then what? Meantime, our unsworn enemies China & Russa kick back, put their feet on the coffee table and watch us 'hemorrhage to death financially', like Usama bin Laden said we would. Fools.

[tom_paine]

11. We WERE the Leader of the Free World, during the Old Republic

Now, we don't even BELONG TO the Free World.

[blm]

12. That's why I think Reagan would kick his ass if he could.

Reagan and just about every president before him.

The problem with Bush2 is that Bush1 didn't kick his ass enough when he was spoiling for an ass kicking most of his life.

[sangh0]

9. You forgot about China!

China is also out preparing to eat out lunch. They're building relationships across Asia and the Pacific

[KlatooBNikto]

13. I think Putin, Hu Jintao,Lula and Singh realize that they have to break

our program of economic hegemony first.If they succeed at that, all our military might will not help us.With India providing Software capability, China and Brazil the manufacturing muscle and Russia the advanced military hardware, a new cartel with impressive capabilities will be born.It is going to be difficult for American corporations to break that cartel easily.

[Forkboy]

14. Putin has been playing Bush like a fiddle since day one

He's nothing if not smart.

[Karenina]

15. And he speaks better English.

:evilgrin:

[Forkboy]

16. lol

scary,isn't it? :)