It's obvious that the West won the Cold War and that the chief beneficiaries are the previously oppressed population of the hard-line Communist States. One can easily draw an analogy with WWII after which Germany and Japan reigned supreme among their former enemies, following a painful recovery period. I applaud Russia's attempt to govern the exploitation of their petroleum resources and hope that they are still pumping well after the peak. We need a bumpy plateau, not a cliff.

This guy Putin looks like a bad ass poker player.

Gentlemen! The game is Texas Hold Em..Ante up.

Hmmm...I do not want a dictatorship in the US. I fear that the namby pamby way we elect or leaders is the biggest problem. We need campaign contribution limits yesterday. This would reduce the ammount of "favors owed" to campaign supporters. Likely hood of passing = 0. A test for voting rights would never fly...Hollywood would have a hissy fit because some actors couldn't vote...

I respect Putin for what he is doing. He is under absolutely no obligation to sell oil at below world market rates to anyone and he shouldn't. This gives a 'tax like' credit to be wasteful. He has the power and is using it(like anyone else wouldn't).

I think we are screwed in the long haul. We don't have the will power...and our leaders have thier balls in hock to someone else.

Separated at birth?