Putin KGB/SVR Ham-handed here, Brutal at Home

It looks like Boris and Natasha and Moose and Squirrel--what a dead giveaway, the screaming Russian red bad dye job hair--but there may be more to come, and this is just one part of Putin's thug arsenal.

The old KGB hand Vlad Putin (remember his undercover meeting with President Reagan as a young operative) postures and sputters and makes remarks laughable to Western ears:

Many Russian officials and analysts said they presumed that hawkish elements within the U.S. government had engineered and timed the arrests to embarrass President Obama and undermine the "reset." Mr. Putin echoed that concern during a meeting at his residence outside Moscow with former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

"Back at your home, the police went out of control [and] are throwing people in jail," Mr. Putin said. "But that's the kind of job they have," he added, drawing a laugh from Mr. Clinton when he heard the translation.

Out of control police? Back at your home, bad Vlad. Arresting art historians. I suppose we should marvel they weren't just "randomly" shot on the street.

Then we have the political trial of businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whom Putin arrested under flimsy charges as Khodorkovsky was on the verge of seriously challenging him with a real opposition party.

Yet our President smiles and has cheeseburgers and garners treaties to our disadvantage and toothless resolutions from the Russians on Iran.