Russia as a Partner

In today's papers, a report that Russia will now cooperate with the U.S. to develop alternative supply routes into Afghanistan to those via Pakistan, which have been in trouble for a while. It would certainly seem to support those who argue that the West has nothing to gain from confronting Moscow over questions such as Georgia's territorial integrity and political independence, as the Putin regime can (and perhaps will) provide crucial cooperation in too many vital international situations. But this Russian regime would be some partner. After all, in the same paper we're reminded of the execution-style (and possibly for-hire) murder of Stanislav Markelov, the human rights lawyer who for years stood up against lawlessness, war crimes, and gangsterism in Putin's Russia and who had just publicly argued against the early release of a Russian colonel jailed for war crimes in Chechnya in 2000 during Putin's war there. Of course the prime-minister and his president were not involved with this--but in the state they have built and in which they exercise ever greater control, this kind of thing has become a very regular occurence. Some partner--and yet, there's probably no way around working with these guys, just as there's no alternative to working with the Chinese regime that cut the references to human rights and to communism out of its broadcast and print editions of Obama's inaugural address yesterday. Still, being partners is not the same as pretending to be friends, and just like Russia can turn off the gas to pressure the West, we should withold things from Russia (and China) because of despicable state behavior.