Dubya Tweaks Putie

Bush Tweaks Putin Before Last Talks
Even as President Bush downplays concerns about tensions between the United States and Russia, he is using a trip to Croatia to showcase some of the differences that have caused those tensions just before final talks with outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Hours before the pair start working on a new "strategic framework" they hope to announce to guide relations beyond their time in office toward a less rocky future, Bush on Saturday is lauding U.S.-promoted developments in Russia's backyard.

In a speech to an invited group of up to 7,000 Croatians in a public square in Zagreb, the president is extolling the virtues of extending NATO membership and spreading Western-style democracy throughout all of Europe, including eastward to former Soviet states on Russia's borders.

That should give Pelousi and the Kooky Kult Kommandante something to screech about.

Ahead of Bush's arrival, thousands massed quietly and listened to local singers in St. Mark's Square, used as the site of the inauguration of every Croatian president for the past 700 years and considered "the center of Croatian politics." But while there was little chance of an unfriendly crowd there, as the invitations were given to the Croatian government to distribute, hundreds of anti-war demonstrators protested Friday night upon Bush's arrival in other parts of Zagreb.

Bush also met Saturday with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, signing a guest book to signify improved U.S.-Croatian relations.

By evening, Bush was to be at Putin's summer home at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where the two men will cap an often contentious seven-year relationship that will come to end when Putin leaves office next month.

As if Putie's really leaving.

Over dinner,and again in talks Sunday, Bush and Putin are expected to make nice and emphasize the positive, such as the strategic framework and Russia's agreement this week to allow shipment of nonmilitary NATO supplies to Afghanistan through its territory.

Via The AP

UPDATE:
Missile Defense Deal Unlikely in Russia