What is "Conservative" Thought About the Kremlin?

News related to the Kremlin and their consistently inflammatory remarks toward the West has sparked much controversy over their aims in the globo-political sphere. Perhaps most interestingly, conservatives may be fighting other conservatives in this conflict: one blog cited "conservative reporters" in the West as labeling Putin the "head of a gangster state." Indeed, this comment may be an exaggeration, but are conservatives the only ones criticizing the Eastern autocrat?

Of course not. From his comments regarding a new arms race to the many, many recent clashes with the Bush administration, Putin seems to be pissing off more than just conservatives. And why wouldn't liberals be angry? The Kremlin has been establishing itself as a one-party government capable of silencing any and all opposition for some time now, making his regime ripe for dissent. In Russia itself, for instance, the "Other Russia" party (in clever contrast to Putin's United Russia) is made up of self-proclaimed liberals such as Garry Kasparov, while other dissenting factions such as the Russian People's Democratic Union have heads like Mikhail Kasyanov, another leading radical.

So what, exactly, are the two sides? Aren't there more than two? As best as I can tell, there's the Kremlin, and then there's the rest of the world. Oh, ahem, except for a, umm, few others.

U.S.-Russia Relations Make Lead Story on Times Website

Get ready, Russian departments of America, for a sudden influx of students. If the trends regarding U.S.-Russia relations continue, our government will begin to want more and more students who know the language. Just this morning, the New York Times decided that a rebuke of the Kremlin and its policies by a deputy state department official deserved top billing on its website.

According the implicit rules set up by the Kremlin, these kinds of comments are fair game--there has already been some back-and-forth between the governments, and it seems likely that it will only escalate from here. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this won't lead to another Cuban Missile Crisis.