Vladimir Putin, tsar of all the Russias, is all smiles these days. He gave a speech Friday in St. Petersburg, formerly Petrograd and then Leningrad and now St. Petersburg again. Now the veteran KGB man just wants to be friends.
Any problems between East and West, our new friend explained, is NATO’s fault, not Russia’s. Never mind that NATO was and remains a defensive alliance against a rampant Russia. Yet its leader is still issuing warnings. “If we continue to act according to this logic,” he said, “stirring up tensions and building up forces to scare each other, we will eventually get to another Cold War. We have a totally different logic—we are looking for cooperation to reach a compromise.”
In short, Comrade, President, Gospodin Putin wants to quit while he’s ahead. Besides, it’s going to take the Russian bear a while to digest all the territory it just gobbled up, including Crimea and savory chunks of Ukraine.
Ni-i-i-ce Bear. But maybe somebody ought to put up the kind of sign you see in national parks: Don’t feed the bears.