The New York Times' Tom Friedman writes that Russia's Vladimir Putin has led his nation into a dependency cul-de-sac that became untenable when oil and gas prices crashed. Nice if true.
I'm not convinced Friedman is right. If Putin were playing against a canny White House operator, or a tough one, maybe I'd buy it.
The current resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is largely a pushover. Putin can bully Obama and get away with it. What's worse, Putin knows it to be true and disrespects weakness. I hope I'm wrong.
