ARTICLE: Putin Offers to Join Missile Shield Effort: G-8 Leaders Back Bush Plan on Emissions, By Michael A. Fletcher, Washington Post, June 8, 2007; Page A01
Anything that builds bridges with Russia as it migrates through this settling period with Putin (the most important threshold point being simply his quiet departure) is fine by me, so I will credit Bush with some smoothness here (after all, he did have to begin the session by denying any desire to go to war with Russia; notice how that works with Bush recently? Always having to deny an interest in warring with someone? This is but another sign of lost prestige). Credit also to Rice for whatever hand she had in it too.
Likewise, to the extent Bush restarts the conversation on country-leading-to-global-caps on CO2, more power to him.
Frankly, we are in salvaging mode right now, trying to secure whatever marginal gains we can before this crew leaves office with really only the Millennium Challenge Corp, better aid to Africa, and some nice movement toward the SysAdmin (to include AFRICOM) as its markers.
The more Bush and Rice can create such momentum, the easier for the next prez when the prices truly drop on 20 Jan 2009.
Meanwhile, watch as the "Korea analogy" leads to lotsa dumping on the "false success" of Kurdistan. Apparently, if its not a pure democracy we can't support it. An idiotic stance, but there it is.
We want stability leading to connectivity. That's the minimal rule set. If you're connecting and stable, you're not our problem therefore you are our friend. Not connecting? We work to that end, then. Not connecting and moving toward bad things? Then we come after you, recognizing the difference in vulnerabilities between true totalitarian states (like NK) and porous authoritarian ones (like Iran).
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