Furthermore, Putin has maintained a staunchly independent foreign policy course in terms of oil, China and the Mideast. The war in Chechnya is largely over and Putin is ready to repay its foreign debts ahead of schedule. All in all, a solid record.

There are many areas for improvement, however.

I am mystified as to why Putin goes out of his way to sound "nice" to the west. He holds all the cards: oil, natural gas and nuclear weapons. She in invulnerable to attacks, either militarily or economically. Putin knows full well that the neo-cons in Washington D.C. despise him and have demanded loudly that he be ejected from international gatherings. Of course, Bush is a part of this cabal (though largely as an instrument), and yet, Putin's relations with him remain extremely cordial. Why?

One theory is that Putin is very interested in getting back at least some of the capital that has fled Russia during the Yeltsin administration. One, unfortunately, must play nice in order to coax some of this back (it does belong to the Russian workers, after all).

Another theory is that Putin does not believe that Russia is either rich, nor militarily strong enough to open a second Cold War with the west. Therefore, for now, Putin must play along and pretend to believe there is not an extremely powerful cabal in Washington who is very interested in another Cold War and Putin’s own personal destruction.

A third theory is that Putin is really not a Russian patriot at all, but engages in a few symbolic actions to pacify public opinion, but, in reality, is a westerner who wishes nothing else than Russia's membership in the EU.

Among various nationalist elements and factions in the west, the third theory is bandied about with regularity. Regardless of all that has happened, Russkies are still Russkies, and they're Asiatic after all (as if this is an insult). Needless to say, your author generally does not go along with the third theory, maintaining that Putin's actions go far beyond symbolism.

It is amusing that westerners accuse Russia of endemic corruption, but as soon as Moscow does something to centralize more authority in hopes of creating more accountability, he is accused of trampling on "democratic freedoms" or some other such jejune abstraction. Well, I worked on Capitol Hill as a writer and journalist for 6 years, and I can tell you one thing: ability gets you nowhere, malleability and conformity (not to mention great legs) gets you everywhere. D.C. thrives on pre-packaged arguments, pseudo-intellectualism, dilettantism and patronage. Russia has dozens of parties reflecting every shade of opinion: the D.C. life revolves around party hacks who are either neo-cons or Barbra Boxer liberals, and nothing more. Russia does not have this level of corruption, and, furthermore, Moscow is not an armed camp, as D.C. presently is (and as any regular commuter to the city can attest). I've been searched in D.C. for nothing more than wearing a long black leather coat. No kidding.

In a recent interview on the execrable Fox News Network, Putin was asked about Iran nuclear ambitions. It was put to him: "Do you want to trust the safety of the world the Iran's ayatollahs?" Putin basically brushed off the question and said, in the typical style of a politician, "we will continue to work with the relevant agencies."

Of course, the fact that Israel has refused to have its nuclear stockpile inspected by the IAEC is apparently not an issue. Both Iran and Iraq (under its legitimate government of Saddam Hussein), subjected their nuclear energy designs to IAEC. Why didn't Putin score major debating points here? He was also asked in the same interview if he had any criticisms of the American political system. In other words, the interviewer was trying to be fair, permitting Putin to sound off on the U.S. as Bush and his Haliburton crew have been doing for years. Putin said very little and made an oblique reference to the difficulties in the Florida vote. My lord. The American media is run by a handful of powerful families. American only has two parties who agree more than they disagree. It costs millions to run a proper campaign for dog catcher. Major issues such as Bildeberg and the Federal Reserve are strictly banned from public discussion. The list continues. Putin made no mention of even the most obvious elements of corruption in American oligarchic politics.

It may well be that Putin is biding his time, permitting Europe to become more and more addicted to Russian oil, and allowing America to get mired more and more in absurd foreign policy adventures, and to watch its economy slowly drown in debt. Russia is a thriving economy in nearly all its sectors (not merely resource extraction, hard data can be found on this site), and is growing more and more powerful by the minute. The alliance with China, at present, still is held together by wet mortar, but the alliance with the powerful economy of Venezuela is solid. The rising powers of Iran and India are still on the fence, and should be taken advantage of immediately. Why push too soon?