Word: vladimir
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...missile defense is on the fast track following the latest test failure, but Russia's President Vladimir Putin is proving adept at outflanking Washington in the diplomatic battle over the scheme. And that should sound a warning to the next U.S. president that the free ride from Russia is over. Putin visited Pyongyang Wednesday, and got North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il to agree to scrap his missile program in exchange for help with civilian space exploration. The specifics of the plan - which include the somewhat unlikely scenario of the U.S. supplying North Korea with a civilian rocket...
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been traveling around Europe lobbying hard to undermine support for the U.S. antimissile shield--and making dire predictions of a "new arms race." America's European allies are concerned too. Senior European diplomats argue that if the U.S. creates a national missile defense, European reaction will be, "What are we going to do? How are we going to defend ourselves?" It will be badly received in Europe. And though China has only around 20 ICBMs, Beijing has threatened to build more if the U.S. goes ahead with NMD. Last week 45 U.S. experts on China...
...gratifying as the spread of democracy and market economics has been, it hasn't necessarily created a uniform interest among nations. Russia is now a full-fledged democracy, according to Washington, and yet since the election of President Vladimir Putin - whose popularity with voters was derived in no small part from sticking out his jaw in the face of Western criticism over his conduct in Chechnya - it has positioned itself ever more assertively as a competitor to Washington on the global stage. Putin is working aggressively (and not without success) to win Western European support for his opposition to Washington...
...crackdown on contrary voices at home, exemplified by the arrest this week of anti-Kremlin media mogul - and erstwhile Primakov backer - Vladimir Gusinsky has been widely interpreted as a signal that domestic dissent will not be tolerated by the Kremlin's new leadership. But while Western leaders may have expected a more authoritarian regime from Putin in the wake of his ruthless handling of Chechnya and his staring down of Western criticism of same, his vigorous foreign-policy offensive against Washington has caught them off guard. Not only has Putin refused to accede to U.S. demands to renegotiate the Antiballistic...
...collapse of the Soviet Union, and with it a steady flow of cheap oil, that sent North Korea's economy into precipitous decline during the '90s. But while Moscow left Pyongyang to its own devices - and China's - for most of the Yeltsin years, President Vladimir Putin has signaled renewed interest in the Korean peninsula by planning to become the first major head of state to visit Pyongyang in the South Koreans' wake. Russia, too, stands to gain from South Korean investments, and its own longstanding territorial conflicts with Japan (over the Kuril Islands) increase the importance of strengthening...