Putin: Iran not Building Nuclear Weapon

This puts us at serious odds with Russia. If King George decides to bomb Iran, which is likely, then there could be confrontation between the U.S. and Russia. Another argument against Dubya's next adventure:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a news briefing with French leader Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday that he has not seen any real evidence that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.

"We do not have data that says Iran is trying to produce nuclear weapons. We do not have such objective data," Putin said. "Therefore we proceed from a position that Iran has no such plans but we share the concern of our partners that all programs should be as transparent as possible."

The Bush administration has been antagonizing the Russians for some time now, which is the opposite of what should be done. We need their help. That is not to suggest that Putin has not behaved like a thug. Nonetheless, we need to pick our fights. Our policies are pushing the Russians to extreme behaviour:

Russia's security chief said that Western spies were working to weaken and break up the country and singled out British agents as the most intrusive, according to an interview published Wednesday.

Nikolai Patrushev, who heads the Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency, also claimed that foreign spies were working to foment discontent in Russia in the run-up to December's parliamentary elections and the presidential vote next spring.

Patrushev is a longtime ally of President Vladimir Putin, and his comments reflect deeply entrenched suspicions of Western intentions in the Kremlin's inner circle amid a cold spell in Russia's relations with the West. Putin himself is a 16-year KGB veteran and former chief of the Federal Security Service, known as the FSB.