Read Jim Hoagland's previous columns. The Bush administration has delivered a stinging slap to Russian pride with its opening, somewhat dismissive moves. But the blow carries more calculation than anger or ideological impetuousness. There is a business plan at work for Bush Inc. on this too.
Conversations carry a CEO-driven crispness and brevity.
It seeks to pop a Clinton-Yeltsin bubble of irrational exuberance and saddle Vladimir Putin with higher transaction costs. Washington is not writing off Russia or Putin permanently, as some Russians fear. The Bush idea is to reach the market's bottom and reinvest from there. We respect Russia. If they give it time, they will see that.