Lumberjack, you've got to get out of the woods once in awhile. The Duma is not the government; it is their parliament and it is dominated by communists. Putin is the govenment. He is a religious man, not a communist. He is also smart. Putin is not going to jeopardize his relationship with the USA by doing anything (other than noise) about our probable preemptive strikes against Iraq.
Lumberjack, you've got to get out of the woods once in awhile. The Duma is not the government; it is their parliament and it is dominated by communists. Putin is the govenment. He is a religious man, not a communist. He is also smart. Putin is not going to jeopardize his relationship with the USA by doing anything (other than noise) about our probable preemptive strikes against Iraq.
Last I checked, Putin is ex-KGB and is quite sympathetic to the communists in his government.
Putin's relationship with the U.S. is only to get us to disarm at a faster rate than they are. There is no two ways about this, and when he feels that he can cut out of the relationship, he will without a second thought. He is not the nice guy most people assume he is. Ask any Russian.