I watched the Russian state television news program with special delight. “Vesti” showed Vladimir Putin and Colin Powell, while the anchor reported that in spite of certain still existing differences the negotiations were held in a friendly and warm atmosphere. This was exactly how they told us in Soviet days about a visit from a leader of some sister Arab or African country that had already proclaimed itself socialist but had not yet built a society of the toiling people.
Now everything has changed. The United States will hardly ever be included in the Russian sphere of influence, even if such a sphere actually appears. But today we are watching a romance between Washington and Moscow. In Russia they used to compare the Russian-Ukrainian relationship to a marriage, and Ukraine – to a foolish wife that for some reason does not want to return to her strict but just husband. Brilliant comparison; so romantic. And who is a wife in the Russian-American dialogue? Obviously not the United States. Now our heroine is flirting, she still has some position towards the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, but the negotiations will go on. So long, thank you very much for the Bagram airport; and when is George coming? Oh, in springtime! Nice time for a romance. Or maybe in summer? There will be white nights in Petersburg; you understand Bush in no way will leave Petersburg aside, so it will be a scene for our romance; there we will say something on the Treaty, somewhere in the Hermitage... Powell’s heart is melting: I’m a military man, he says, I don’t know about the language of love, but now I came here as a civilian and will certainly learn it, he says,
Of course, we can argue that all this is about tactics and interests, that they will quarrel soon, that this is inevitable. However, the course of true love never runs smooth. In fact, this affair is serious and long-lasting. This is why they could afford such a private mode, rather unexpected for the Russian-American dialogue.
