Bush, Putin, and the Chinese

Bush sent a memo to Putin saying the Cold War is over. This in response to the Russian response of the US putting up a missile defense system in eastern Europe.

Now, this reminds me of a few other axioms:
If you declare a cease-fire, make sure the enemy agrees.
If one side thinks they are in a religious war, it's a religious war.

If Putin doesn't think the Cold War is over, maybe we shouldn't be telling him it is, maybe we should be paying attention and consider the possibility that hostilities are ramping back up.

Re. Russia as a buffer against China: Some think that rather than bicker, Russia will enter a cooperative agreement with China, allowing China to develop the oil fields in Siberia and then splitting the proceeds.

Whoever pointed out that a great deal of the Cold War st reign was due to the Russian mind being a mix of west and east was right on the money. Now, take that a step further - if we couldn't get inside the heads of the Russians or find a common ground, how well is all of this going to work in dealing with the Chinese?

It's why politics without commerce is doomed. Money is a universal language and the businesses will find a way to make it work. Then, they will make sure their governments do what it takes to keep the money flowing.

If the money is flowing between Russia and China, then those bonds are the ones that will grow.

Of course, none of this takes into account the mega-egos involved and the difficulty that free enterprise has in influencing the Russian market. I'm not too worried about the Chinese market. They are one of the largest consumers of BMW 7-series for crying out loud.