WORLD / America
Putin tries anew to stop missile shield
(AP)
Updated: 2007-07-03 06:27
KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine - Russian President Vladimir Putin sought anew
Monday to bat down U.S. plans to build a missile defense shield in
Eastern Europe, proposing that the system be expanded and largely
Russian-based.
Neither President Bush nor his aides reacted definitively to the surprise
idea, Putin's second in less than a month on the topic that has sent
U.S.-Russian relations into a tailspin.
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From Sunday afternoon through lunch on Monday, Bush used personal charms,
his family's wealth and a slew of traditional Maine treats to woo Putin
and heal fissures that have the Washington-Moscow alliance at its lowest
point since the Cold War. There was lobster, blueberry pie and striper
fishing in the Atlantic from his dad's prized speedboat �� all from the
spectacular setting of the century-old Bush summer compound on a craggy
peninsula.
But with all Bush's efforts, it was Putin who appeared to leave
Kennebunkport with the upper hand �� a situation aptly, if
coincidentally, illustrated by Putin's singular success among their group
at outsmarting fish.
On substantive issues, the Russian leader appeared to neither lose ground
or give any.
He emphasized more talking with Iran about its suspected nuclear weapons
program over the tougher U.N. sanctions on Tehran that Bush wants. There
was no sign that Putin came closer to the Western view that the Serbian
province of Kosovo should be allowed independence. Most dramatically,
Putin again showed up at a meeting with Bush with a proposal on missile
defense that caught the president off guard.
As Putin said at the end of his appearance with Bush before reporters on
the sun-drenched lawn of Walker's Point's main stone-and-shingle home:
"We are here to play."
As a result, Putin traveled on to Guatemala for a decision meeting on the
site for the 2014 winter Olympics likely boosted in the eyes of the world
by the respectful treatment and lavish compliments given him by the
globe's only superpower.
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