As Ellroon of has already mention in her post on the Shrubbery’s diplomatic style it is being reported Russian President Vladimir Putin has suspended the application of a key Cold War arms control treaty.

Newsweek titles their piece in the magazine’s upcoming issue on Vladimir Putin, The Tyrant’s Turn.

People wonder why “Vladdie Pooh” is no longer the Shrubbery’s best buddy, well it is probably not because the use of Mr. Putin’s first name by anyone who hasn’t known him well for at least a decade is demeaning and insulting to a Russian, although it is. It not so much that the Shrubbery thinks it’s a great honor to have Mr. Putin go to Crawford and Kennebunkport, while Mr. Putin views that as forcing him to stay in an environment that he assumes is bugged rather than the secure Russian embassy in Washington, or that such informality diminishes the status of the Russian nation, although that’s how Russians would view it. The worst part is when Russia offered unprecedented assistance after 9/11 in a hope of establishing new and better relations with the US, and instead, the Shrubbery treated the offers as his due.

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Okay, so the actual headline is U.S. Air Force Builds Up Presence In Iraq, and the story starts:

(CBS/AP) Away from the headlines and debate over the “surge” in U.S. ground troops, the Air Force has quietly built up its hardware inside Iraq, sharply stepped up bombing and laid a foundation for a sustained air campaign in support of American and Iraqi forces.

Squadrons of attack planes have been added to the in-country fleet. The air reconnaissance arm has almost doubled since last year. The powerful B1-B bomber has been recalled to action over Iraq.

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Every Sunday Mustang Bobby of Bark Bark Woof Woof reads the New York Times editorial page so you don’t have to. Normally I prefer the links to the Sunday Doonesbury and Opus comic strips to the absurdity of the columnists, but today, asking the rhetorical question, What Has William Kristol Been Smoking?, MB pulls on the thread of Mr. Kristol’s unraveling tiny neocon brain and then stomps on what falls out.

A thing of beauty [sniff].

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