Those damned Russkys!! They're not to be trusted!!

On a serious note, Putin seems to have the same basic aims as Chirac ... to make his nation into a superpower (again) and to counterbalance global U.S. power ... it's just that Putin is about 100 times smarter in how he's going about it.

I would whole-heartedly agree, Jheka. Putin is clearly seeing his duty as obstruction of U.S. superpower hegemony. I won't be surprised if the French and the Russians, who've had several hundred years of supportive relations with each other, drive the European Union to become the next world superpower. If China can't do it because she is too xenophopic and insular, and too wedded to the immense capital coming her way from the United States (and too understocked in petroleum), then I am sure the EU will step up to the plate.

Except that Britain won't join.

This will be a problem for the EU team, who will try to gridlock Britain's economy as a behavior modification tool.