From Russia with guile: Putin woos Europe with false tale of friendship

He's speaking to the visions of sovereign European grandeur that live even in moderate politicians' heads.

Russian President Vladimir Putin rarely appeals directly to citizens of the West for acceptance of and friendly cooperation with Russia. Ever since his famous speech at the 2007 Munich Security Conference, his tone has been more defiant than conciliatory. And yet on June 22, the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union, Die Zeit, the center-left German newspaper, published an op-ed signed by Putin that, essentially, calls on Europeans to ditch the U.S. as a strategic partner and go with Russia instead.

Putin has been around long enough to understand that this scenario is hardly realistic. And