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think it's a mutual blow off...If the situation is going to change, someone has got to take the first step,...

I disagree, I feel President Bush has made a real effort to open up relations with President Putin, and has been ignored, slapped down for his efforts. At some point you have to accept that the other guy has his agenda and that it doesn't include getting along.
I hope that the President after Putin will be more open to working with us.
Unlike many here at Free Republic, I have long since moved on from the Cold War, I realize that Russia is not the Soviet Union, and see opportunities there. But many Russians have not accepted that the dissolution of the Soviet Union and independence to the other former Soviet states means that Russia will not have the same importance in the world.
Some Russian are concentrating on restoring the Union (without the stupid ideology, of course). It's called looking to the past, and it means you're backing into the future, and when you back into the future, you don't see what's coming.
Putin is backing into the future.

I will trust Russia when it does these things:

1. Admit the responsibility for the crimes of communism and allow crimes against humanity trials to proceed, even if the defendants are dead.

2. Stop the sale of weapons to our enemies

3. Destroy all communist symbols, no matter how insignaficant, unless they are placed in a museum
4. Ban the KPRF and all Soviet and Mafia officials from running.
5. Free and fair elections and a free press.