This week's G8 Summit in St. Petersburg marked the end of the five-year romance between George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin. With festering disagreements over Iran, Russia's entry into the WTO, the North Korean crisis, and Moscow's descent into autocracy, tensions between Bush and Putin were on public display. Ironically, the exchange of barbs took the form of lectures on democracy, a subject about which the two leaders share limited knowledge.
During a press conference on Saturday, President Putin lambasted Bush's pontifications on the need for democratization in Russia. "We certainly would not want to have same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq." Days earlier, Putin similarly rejected Dick Cheney's harsh comments in May on the dismal state of Russian democracy, jokingly calling the Vice President's speech an "unsuccessful hunting shot."
What a far cry from Bush's coquettish flirtation with Putin back in 2001. Their warm personal relationship was apparently forged in late 2001, when President Bush said of his first meeting with Putin, "I looked the man in the eye. I was able to get a sense of his soul. I knew that President Putin was a man with whom I could work." But four and a half years later, President Bush declared:

"I have worked very hard to convince Vladimir Putin that it's in his interest to adopt Western-style values and universal values -- rule of law, freedom of religion, the right to people to assemble, political parties, free press."

Unfortunately for the American and Russian people alike, neither George W. Bush nor Vladimir Putin qualifies as an expert in democracy promotion. As Bush himself put it on multiple occasions:

"A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it." (President George W. Bush, July 26, 2001.)

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." (President-elect George W. Bush, December 18, 2000.)

"You don't get everything you want. A dictatorship would be a lot easier." (Texas Governor George W. Bush, July 1998.)

Bush, of course, was joking. But as I've noted previously, the humor of George W. Bush provides a rare window into the dark soul of a man who apparently views his fellow citizens - and the world - with disdain and contempt.
Sadly for Bush, this week Vladimir Putin chose to return the favor.