Reply #5: That and being humilated in your own country [View All]

Putin loses his smile after lecture from Bush on democracy
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=614535

President George Bush subjected Russia's Vladimir Putin to a public
lecture on the fundamentals of democracy yesterday, injecting a
chill into a relationship that has - until now - been characterised
by bonhomie.

Meeting in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, Mr Bush emerged from a
three-hour meeting with the Russian President joking and smiling and
full of warm words. But his frequent references to "Vladimir" and
the "fella" were peppered with targeted criticism of the state of
democracy in Russia with which the more hawkish members of his
administration are said to have lost patience.

An unsmiling, visibly irritated Mr Putin squirmed as he listened to
Mr Bush tell a press conference he had been told that Washington
had "concerns about Russia's commitment in fulfilling" the "universal principles" of democracy. "Democracies always reflect
a country's customs and culture, and I know that," Mr Bush
said. "Yet democracies have certain things in common; they have a
rule of law, and protection of minorities, a free press, and a
viable political opposition."