[montag813]

"Heads of state have no right to whinge, or drool for any reason... If they are going to slobber and blow snot and say things are bad, bad, then that's how it will be," Putin said.

[marron]

The Russian was also sympathetic towards U.S. President George W. Bush. "Sometimes you have to make decisions that nobody else can make... Do you think Bush has it easy?" he said.

Putin was the only foreign leader to speak up for Bush back during the elections, when he was being daily accused of lying about the reasons for war in Iraq. He told newsmen at a news conference that Bush was not lying, that Russian intelligence agreed with Bush's assessments of Saddam's intentions.

Putin was also the first foreign leader besides Blair to offer concrete help when we decided to go to war in Afghanistan.

He's a complicated guy. Our relations with him are consequently rather complicated. People have said several times that Russia smuggled Saddam's WMD out of the country into Syria, which meant that it wasn't available for use against our troops. So while at one level, we have probably good reason to keep an eye on this guy, at another level he seems to have a relationship with Bush that goes beyond what protocol requires. I think the two men like each other.

[wideminded]

"Well, let them rather teach their own wives to cook soup."

If anyone knows if this is a common Russian expression, let me know.

[Carpe Cerevisi]

He’s a regular Yakov Smirnoff.