Wow. Good news, if true. I favor an alliance between the U.S. and Russia, but I do not favor Putin's efforts to rebuilt the Soviet empire. That can only lead to trouble.
Vladimir Putin is playing a far more desperate game than George Bush, but they're both playing in the same game.
Bush has a porous border with tens of thousands of illegals who may or may not be terrorists swarming over our countryside. Bush has organizations with power bases in many foreign lands that we lack access to plotting ill for our country and our citizens.
Vladimir Putin has a non-existant border with millions of people who are actively and publicly committed to the destruction of his country and the death of every one of his citizen's living within a days drive of his capitol. He has governments supported by the UN declared as enemies of his continuing to breath.
Putin is fighting for his own and his peoples survival, as George Bush is, but Putin has enemies with armies within his ZIP code.
He isn't thinking empire. He's thinking about breathing tomorrow. Cut the man a LITTLE slack, particularly when assessing stories planted in the MSM. Maybe they might have an agenda of their own? NAH! Never happen!
I am greatly encouraged by these developments. Putin and company backed the candidate that favored Moscow and Moscow's view of the world. When push came to shove Vladimir Putin has apparently put his weight behind a peaceful transition to THE OTHER SIDE in order to maintain the legitimacy of the government in the Ukraine. He has publicly backed this deal, even to the extent of mentioning Russian troops to make it happen.
This is good, if true. This is HUGE, if true. This warrants not only a visit to the Bush Ranch, but maybe an offer of land in Texas for his own retirement place. Of course, Putin is looking forward to a comfy retirement in a Dacha in the Moscow hills, with his lovely German appliances and his 3 layers of security guards.
This isn't 1970 and Putin isn't Brezhnev. Look with new eyes. He's not perfect, he's not our friend, but he's not automatically the bad guy, either.