Final Word from Thursday, April 8, 2010

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Whatever happened to the New Cold War and the threat Vladimir Putin's Russia poses to the West? Since early 2008, Edward Lucas of The Economist has won a lot of attention for warning that "the West is losing the New Cold War, while having barely noticed that it has started." Now, we are practically declaring that this war is over, thanks to one badly translated "reset" button and an arms-reduction treaty that seems to favor Russia and China more than the U.S. or Europe. Russia has a new president, but otherwise not much has changed in the country in the past two years. No one disputes that Putin and his KGB pals are still firmly in control. One benefit of START II is to draw Dmitri Medvedev somewhat away from Putin, and there is no doubt that the ruckus surrounding the treaty has significantly improved Russia's media image in the past month. But the lingering question after today's Prague summit will be whether Russia's stance toward the West has changed as much as the West's stance toward Russia has.[Czech Republic United States of America disarmament]