Putin told the crowd that, “it [gave him] great pleasure to deal and to work with President Bush, who is a person, a man who does what he says.” The meeting itself didn’t produce a landmark agreement on any particular issue. But the United States will reduce its operationally deployed strategic nuclear warheads to a level between 1,700 and 2,200 over the next decade-unilaterally no less. There was no clear agreement on the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty yet, but there was plenty of cooperation on the war on terrorism and working to prevent any proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. And to be truthful that was more important anyway.
But the really interesting thing was just how warm Putin was. It was during their first meeting together earlier this year when Bush said he could see into Putin’s soul and knew he was a man he could deal with. Many in the media thought this was preposterous. How could George W. Bush, novice at foreign policy, deduce that?
When he was in Texas, Putin was warm-not the icy ex-KGB officer that everyone said he was before. Sure he has 1,000’s of nuclear weapons at his disposal but we learned about him-the man, his wife, that he has two teenage daughters (named like Bush’s after his mother and mother-in-law). That Putin wants what every father wants for his daughters-a good life.
It would be hard to see this happening twenty or thirty years ago-sure during the war Stalin was good old Uncle Joe but he was just as evil as the Nazi’s. That said, it doesn’t take a genius to understand that Putin is cozying up to America simply because that is a much safer option that staying on the sidelines in this war.
Was it the Texas hospitality? Probably not, but Putin has hitched his wagon to the west for now and we should be happy to have him-especially if his help continues to drive the price of oil lower. These personal exchanges may not be worth much in terms of concrete results but they are good for long-term relations.
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