Get your facts straight, Mr. Kleine-Brockhoff:

Russia has actually eleven time zones.

I think Putin is a great leader. He has taken the new oil barons to task. Great! He has offended American corporations who wants to exploit Russian resources. Putin is trying to reclaim Russian terriory, the heart of Mother Russia, Urkaine. Keiv is the very heart of historical Mother Russia. Historians know this. Putin knows what the West wants. It is divide and exploit. Go Putin! Put Mother Russia back together again and that includes Belo Russia and Urkaine too. The West does not care about democarcy unless they define it, their defination is corporate capitalistc democracy. That is what we have in America, which means for the corporations and by the corporations. Just ask our CEO President Bush.

Agree with your "realistic and principled."

I thought Angie struck a nice balance when she and Putin had their summit in Tomsk in April. Apparently they had a pretty frank and forthright private exchange -- I think Putin used the expression "intense" conversations (as translated into English). She made no-nonsense noises about some of the political and human rights issues (and met with some NGOs before going to Tomsk, IIRC?) But they also treated each other with comfortable respect, highlighted the mutual importance of the relationship, and there were several steps in the energy sector that were structured to be mutually beneficial.

I read several online Russian newspapers and one thing I noticed is their pride in hosting the G-8 summit this year in St. Petersburg. Also, one note I read was that President Putin was having an American public relations firm to help him with his image in the leadup to this summit. The Russians seem to feel pride that they are going to be hosting this summit. There may be some very positive things to come out of this summit!