Kissinger: Putin Would Like To Go Down In History As Peter The Great



With the passing of Putin's time as Preesident we cannot fail to bring up Henry Kissinger's dramatic appearance on Charlie Rose last week. Rose had Kissinger -- who recently stepped down from his Beltway boutique -- and New Yorker editor David Remnick to talk about the recent Russian elections.

Kissinger has been used by the Bush administration as a special envoy to Russia. Dictators, this blog has noted, appreciate -- and admire -- Kissinger's bloodless Realpolitik.

Kissinger told Rose that of his many meetings, he came away with the sense that "(Putin) would like to go down in History as Peter the Great."

That would explain a lot of Putin's rhetoric.

Peter the Great, to be sure, founded St. Petersberg, which is Putin's hometown and a particular and abiding obsession. It is said that the moment that the Putin-Bush relationship went sideways was when Bush blew off Putin's invitations -- entreaties? -- to come to Russia to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersberg, according to Woodward's State of Denial.