Bush was right. Putin would make a better friend than enemy.
Constant Russia bashing and Putin bashing is counter productive to world wide conservatism and preservation of western values, that it seems only the Russians are promoting.
A silly conclusion, but understandable with wrong data. Here's a secret for you... do you know that there are "ultranationalists" in Russia who are big fans of the Russian Orthodox Church? Maybe not that surprising. Nationalists are like that (but we conservatives are Patriots, FYI, there is a difference.) And did you know that these "ultranationalists" are publicly communists or "National Bolsheviks"? And did you know that these same National Bolsheviks support "Red Orthodoxy"? IOW, Communist Orthodoxy?
And did you also know that these same champions of Communist Orthodoxy also support.... paganism, and the occult in general, like Alexander Dugin?
Ladies and gentlemen, it is not wise to project our own world on the backward and bizarre world of Russian politics.
Putin bashing. Look, Putin acts in the interest of Russia. We cannot say that Obama acts in the interest of The States so i give grudging admiration to Putin on that point.
Could Russia be an anti-Islamic partner for the U.S? I always thought so. But the geo-political views and interest of the countries are very different. I am not an expert and an expert is required to understand Russian internal and external interests.
I believe in real politics and real power. So does Putin. Obama is ideological not pragmatic. Bush was pragmatic. So that is the difference in how Putin deals with us now versus Bush. He sees us as weak and in decline. He acts with pragmatism to take advantage.