Western politicians and journalists have dubbed the Putin-Bush summit in Moscow "the funeral of the Cold War." In strategic terms the Cold War was buried a long time ago, but a different cold war still persists in the minds
of top executives at Russia's Foreign Ministry, General Staff, and Defense Ministry. They are accustomed to seeing the world through the prism of the Cold War. There are "Cold War hawks" in the United States too (people like Vice President Chaney and Pentagon chief Rumsfeld). In that sense the Cold War is likely to be around for quite some time to come.
Marriage rather than funeral is the word to describe the Moscow summit. The Bush visit crowns the triumphal period of Russia's foreign policy since September 11, the period between Putin's "decision to get married" and "the wedding ceremony." The bride has demonstrated its attractiveness to the groom and convinced him that marriage is better than cohabitation. Putin has achieved his objective of strategic rapprochement with the West to the extent that is at all possible in a real world.
But what of the future? It is clear that Russia will not be an equitable partner, but that does not mean that trying to fathom the newlyweds' future relationship makes no sense. On the contrary, it would be worthwhile to take
a close look at the two presidents' rhetoric and mimic, and that could say something about their intentions. So far, though, officials on both sides have tended to see the START treaty and declarations about a strategic partnership as an end in themselves without offering their vision of the post-summit world.
The Moscow summit is the culmination of a long series of consultations between the two countries. For months journalists were trying to make a sensation out of the negotiators' statements. Western politicians were calling on the public and the press not to expect too much from the summit while the Russian side was making optimistic noises about "rapprochement with the West."
Bush's speech last week where he announced plans to sign the START Treaty came as a surprise but the speech itself contained nothing sensational. Analysts have suggested different interpretations of the reasons behind Bush's statement. Many believe that in that way the American president wanted to amend the summit's agenda: now that he made it clear that the START Treaty would be signed anyway, during the summit he might concentrate on issues of more importance to him, such as Russia's nuclear cooperation with rogue states. On the other hand, by making that announcement, the White House might have wanted to expose the treaty to media criticism before the summit because otherwise the torrent of criticism would have coincided with it, and it could have been declared a flop.