Its tough for a cold war kid to make the change, but I find myself agreeing with the Russians more & more these days.
Same here, and I have figured out that Putin is not so communist, despite his past.
He is pro Russia, pro Slav, powerful, autocratic, willing to act, and has stones. He learns quickly and well, (most of his successes have been learned from US, Western European and media double crosses), and he acts in the interests of Russia.
Being as he is not American, I cannot expect him to act in the best interest of America, he's not supposed to.
Obama, DemoRats, and the American media ARE supposed to.
Unfortunately Russia is a mixed bag. Their foreign policy is still 99.999% Soviet.