Asked by the 'Today' show's Matt Laucer about the recent caning Vice President Dick Cheney gave him and Russia,president Vladimir Putin gave this cocky and cutting reply.

I think these kinds of comments from your vice president amount to the same thing as an unfortunate shot while hunting.

In Rostock,Germany,President Bush declined to defend Cheney, or rebut Putin, though the veep's tough words in Lithuanian May 4,accusing ARussia of backsliding on democracy and using its oil as a weapon to blackmail neighbours,had to have been approved by the White House.

Putin,a black belt in karate and the man in to whose soul Bush famously saw five years ago,as he gazed into the eyes of that ex-KGB officer,takes no guff from these Americans.

Americans give these reasons for the estrangement:Putin's reversion to authoritarianism,his closeness to Beijing,his sale of fighter jets to Hugo Chaves and anti-aircrafe missiles to Tehran,his support for Iran's nuclear plant,his recognition of Hama's election victory,his oil blackmail of Ukraine,his unplugging if Radio Free Europ

and Radio Liberty,and his crackdown on U.S. nongovernment organizations promoting democracy in Russia.All seemed designed to show Russian's independence of ---and,indeed, defiance of----the world leadership pf the United States.

And that is not an unfair conclusion.But Americans need to ask themselves whether we had it coming.For consider how we have dealt with Russia's interests and sensitivities.

They watched America to go back on her word---given when the Red Army withdrew from Europe----and push NATO into Poland,the Baltic States,the Balkans,and now, Ukraine and Georgia.

They saw U.S. agents,under cover of Bush's 'democracy crusade,' effect the defeat of pro-Russian governments in Kiev and Tiblisi.

Putin concluded that these Americans do not want partners;they want poodles.But Putin is not Blair.A patriot and nationalist,he has set about restoring Moscow's independence and self-respect.

Though the West is losing Russia,Russia is not lost,But the minimal price of regaining Russian good will is to start treating het like a great nation.That means getting out of her face,getting our alliance off her front porch,and getting our base and opur Cold War agitprop agencies and pests out of her back yard.