Bush Aides Say Russia Actions in Georgia Jeopardize Ties

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/world/europe/15policy.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin

Bush Aides Say Russia Actions in Georgia Jeopardize Ties

By STEVEN LEE MYERS and THOM SHANKER
Published: August 14, 2008
WASHINGTON — Russia’s military offensive into Georgia has jolted the Bush administration’s relationship with Moscow, senior officials said Thursday, forcing a wholesale reassessment of American dealings with Russia and jeopardizing talks on everything from halting Iran’s nuclear ambitions to reducing strategic arsenals to cooperation on missiles defenses.
The conflict punctuated a stark turnabout in the administration’s view of Vladimir V. Putin, the president turned prime minister whom President Bush has repeatedly described as a trustworthy friend. Now Mr. Bush’s aides complain that Russian officials have been misleading or at least evasive about Russia’s intentions in Georgia.
......
If Russia and the United States rarely have acted as allies during Mr. Bush’s presidency, they also have rarely allowed disagreements to undermine what Mr. Bush considered one of his bedrock diplomatic relationships. After their first meeting in 2001, Mr. Bush said famously that he had looked into the eyes of Mr. Putin and “got a sense of his soul.”


ref:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/30/opinion/30sat3.html
EDITORIAL OBSERVER
Mr. Bush Gets Another Look Into Mr. Putin’s Eyes
By CARLA ANNE ROBBINS
Published: June 30, 2007
President Bush’s June 2001 declaration that he had looked Russia’s Vladimir Putin in the eye and “was able to get a sense of his soul” was greeted with bemusement and also relief. The cowboy president wasn’t, after all, going to start another cold war. But that sudden effusiveness wasn’t as sudden as it appeared



the actual quote:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11650470

NATION
Bush, Putin Meet in Kennebunkport
NPR.org, July 2, 2007
..Bush's Russia policy took an about-face during his first meeting with his Russian counterpart, Putin, in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana in June 2001. President Bush emerged smiling.
"I looked the man in the eye," he said. "I was able to get a sense of his soul."