My bet is that he’ll back the U.S. in the end, maybe the very end. Great analysis in the New York times today:
Mr. Putin must consider the extent to which a snub of either European doves or American hawks will set back his own agenda to bind Russia more tightly to the West. On that question, there is little doubt, said Alexander G. Rahr, a longtime Russia scholar at the Körber-Foundation and German Council on Foreign Relations, who talked with Kremlin officials during Mr. Putin’s Berlin stopover last weekend. “They said, `If we play the European card, we play on a very small field – in Europe,’ ” Mr. Rahr said. By contrast, both Russia and the United States need each other in the Far East, where the Korean nuclear crisis is heating up on Russia’s border; in South Asia, where India and Pakistan flirt with war; in the Middle East, where the Americans and Russians both have important stakes; and in the Caucasus, where both are fighting terrorism. Not only has Europe no significant stakes or influence in those areas, Mr. Rahr said, but also the debate over Iraq has left in shambles Europe’s own supposedly growing unity on the most basic matters of foreign policy and defense.
Exactly. We’ll soon find out if President Bush’s very careful cultivation of Putin has paid off.
SUGGESTED SLOGANS: A friend just got an email from some of the anti-war protestors about to descend this weekend. It’s a list of suggested slogans on posters or t-shirts for the protests. Here they are:
A Village In Texas Has Lost Its Idiot
All Humanity Is Downwind
Beat The Bushes For Peace
Bombing For Peace Is Like Fcking For Chastity
Books Not Bombs
Born To Kill, Born To Drill
Brains Not Bombs
Bush Is A Moron Don’t Let Him Get His War On
Bush Is A Servant Of Sauron. We Hates Him!
Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld: Axis Of Weasel
Draft The Bush Twins
Drop Bush, Not Bombs
Drop Names, Not Bombs
Evolve! Work For A Non-violent Future
George Bush Couldn’t Run A Laundromat
George Dubya: Weapon Of Mass Distraction
Go Solar, Not Ballistic
God Does Not Bless Only America
Has Anyone Seen Our Constitution Lately?
Honk Your SUV If You’re A Terrorist
How Did Our Oil Get Under Their Soil?
How Many Lives Per Gallon?
If War Is The Answer We’re Asking The Wrong Question
If You Are Not Outraged You Are Not Paying Attention
Justice Or Just Us?
Killing Innocent People Is The Problem, Not The Solution
Let’s Try Preemptive Peace
Make Alternative Energy Not War
Make Love, Not W
More MPGs, Less MIAs (MPG =miles per gallon, MIA= missing in action)
My President Is A Psychopath
Nonviolence, Not Nonexistence
Our Grief Is Not A Cry For War
Peaceful Solution Not Daddy’s Retribution
Pretzel – It Does A Country Good
Real Patriots Drive Hybrids
Relax, George
Rich Man’s War Poor Man’s Blood
Save America, Spare Iraq, Make Texas Take Him Back
Smart Bombs Don’t Justify Dumb Leaders
Sorry Dubya – Have A Pretzel Instead
Stop Mad Cowboy Disease
Tame The Tyrant In The Mirror, Then The One In Iraq
There Is No Path To Peace – Peace IS The Path
War Is A Dick Thing, Peace Is A Heart Thing
War Is SO 20th century
We Have Guided Missiles And Misguided Men
Weapons Of Mass Destruction: Look Under The Bushes
What If God Blesses Iraq?
When Bush Comes To Shove
Who Would Jesus Bomb?
Who’s The Unelected Tyrant With The Bomb?
Notice that only one addresses anything to do with the threat from Saddam. Notice also the constant harping on the tired old notion that Bush is an idiot – “Brains Not Bombs,” “Bush Is a Moron,” “Smart Bombs Don’t Justify Dumb Leaders.” Notice the personal attacks – “Draft the Bush Twins,” “Sorry, Dubya, Have a Pretzel Instead.” Notice the idiotic moral equivalence: “Who’s The Unelected Tyrant With The Bomb?” It’s hard not to feel demoralized by a culture that can throw up such things as genuine pieces of protest. It’s as if an entire generation or more has forgotten what an argument is.
The Dish 