Russia Growing Up?

Here is an interesting opinion piece from the The Moscow Times.

During a recent meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin made an extremely important statement. "Under modern conditions, when there is no longer confrontation between two hostile systems, an endless expansion of the military and political alliance is not only impractical, but counterproductive," he said.

In other words, Putin admitted that NATO did not represent a military threat to Russia. What is actually bothering him then? His further comments provide the answer: "It would seem that attempts are being made to create an organization to take the place of the United Nations. NATO is already going beyond the scope of its mandate. We have nothing against helping Afghanistan, but ... this is not a NATO problem."

The entire article is rather optimistic, but that last phrase leaves the door open for an anti-NATO which diminishes the likelihood that our optimism is of equal amplitude.

UPDATE:
Putin doesn't want new Cold War.