How different things would have been if he had used the same type of diplomacy on people who criticized the war in Iraq.
There would be no Libby commutation or pardon necessary.

This isn’t bashing Bush. It’s just a what if and a thought.

President Bush´s support for Vladimir Putin at their brief summit puzzles Russia scholars, who say the Russian president is being rewarded for behavior the West should be discouraging.

At the end of Putin´s visit to the Bush family compound on the rugged Maine coast, Bush praised the Russian leader for his truthfulness and frankness _ evidence that Russia is once again considered a nation to be reckoned with.

“Here´s the thing, when you´re dealing with a world leader, you wonder whether or not he´s telling the truth,” Bush told reporters Monday. “I´ve never had to worry about that with Vladimir Putin. Sometimes he says things I don´t want to hear, but I know he´s always telling me the truth.”

Later, Putin seemed to equate Russia´s record on human rights and press freedom _ both widely criticized _ with that of the United States.

“Speaking of common democratic values, we are guided by the idea and principle that these are important both for you and for us,” Putin said. “Even in the, shall we say, sustainable democracies, mature democracies, we see basically the same problems … It has to do with the relationship with the media; it has to do with human rights.”

Bush did not react to the evident comparison.

Bush and Putin have had a personal friendship since June 2001, when both held their first summit in Slovenia. “I looked the man in the eye,” Bush told reporters after that meeting. “I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy … I was able to get a sense of his soul.”

The friendship has undergone strains that might have wrecked others. In February, the Russian president accused the U.S., and by implication the Bush administration, of using “an almost uncontained hyper use of force” in global affairs.

And in recent months, Putin seemed to compare the U.S. to Nazi Germany, and threatened to target Europe with missiles if the U.S. builds a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, as planned.

Story

Now this is something to worry about. The Al Qaeda are a bunch of idiots compared to these people.

Russia tested new missiles Tuesday that a Kremlin official boasted could penetrate any defense system, and President Vladimir Putin warned that U.S. plans for an anti-missile shield in Europe would turn the region into a “powder keg.”

First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Russia tested an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple independent warheads, and it also successfully conducted a “preliminary” test of a tactical cruise missile that he said could fly farther than existing, similar weapons.

“As of today, Russia has new tactical and strategic complexes that are capable of overcoming any existing or future missile defense systems,” Ivanov said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. “So in terms of defense and security, Russians can look calmly to the country’s future.”

Not Good