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Putin favours Iran with military warning to US
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
Last Updated: 12:52am BST 17/10/2007
President Vladimir Putin handed the Iranian regime a welcome publicity boost yesterday when he delivered a stern warning against US military action during a historic summit in Teheran.
Becoming the first Kremlin leader to visit Iran since Josef Stalin in 1943, Mr Putin also secured an important undertaking from Caspian states to deny US forces access to air bases in the event of a military strike against Teheran’s nuclear installations.
Revelling in the opportunity to goad Washington, Mr Putin greeted his host, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with a flamboyant display of bonhomie. The two men hugged enthusiastically on a red carpet flanked by a guard of honour. They exchanged hand-shakes and smiled for the cameras as Mr Ahmadinejad greeted his guest who had flown to Iran despite dubious Russian claims of a plot to assassinate him.
…..Mr Putin seemed eager to offer his counterpart unconditional support, repeating claims that there was no evidence to suggest Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb.
Mr Putin also secured the vital backing of Azerbaijan in a five-nation pact by the Caspian states to prevent the US from using the region as a staging ground for military action against Iran.
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The news three years ago…
Putin urges voters to back Bush
By CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty
Monday, October 18, 2004 Posted: 1108 GMT (1908 HKT)
Putin says terrorists want to inflict “maximum damage to Bush.”
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says terrorist attacks in Iraq are aimed at preventing the re-election of U.S. President George W. Bush and that a Bush defeat “could lead to the spread of terrorism to other parts of the world.”
Putin, speaking Central Asian Cooperation Organization summit in Tajikistan Monday, made his most overt comments of support so far for the re-election of Bush for a second term.
“Any unbiased observer understands that attacks of international terrorist organizations in Iraq, especially nowadays, are targeted not only and not so much against the international coalition as against President Bush,” Putin said.
“International terrorists have set as their goal inflicting the maximum damage to Bush, to prevent his election to a second term.
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What’s changed?
This is one point of contention, and this,
oh, and then there’s the trade issue:
Stop & Wander 