Here's a hot one: Writing in Asia Times, Federico Bordonaro, "senior analyst" with something called the Power and Interest News Report, exposes the truly outrageous and horrifying nature of Russian support for global terrorism. He also documents the Kremlin's consolidation of power. And his conclusion? It's unbelievably this: Russia is only supporting international terrorism because of an inferiority complex engendered by the expansion of NATO. In other words, Russia got its feelings hurt in the 90s, that is why it is supporting global terrorism in the 00s. All we need to do to control these actions by Russia is to strike a "grand bargain" with Putin (you know, the same kind Chamberlain struck with Hitler), showing Russians that we love them and respect their opinions, and then they'll become civilized. Psychological forces sure are at work here, but Mr. Bordonaro is their victim. It's so much easier and more comfortable to think of the Putin regime as "misunderstood" than evil, isn't it? That means all we have to do is be nicer to it and it will be nicer to us. On the other hand, if the Kremlin is dominated by a clan of crazed KGB functionaires steeped in hatred of the west and yearning for revenge not because of what happened after the USSR fell but because of the fall itself, that means we're in for decades more cold war with the risk of a thermonuclear hot one. It's the Chamberlain Complex: the preferred response among cowards is to stick your head in the sand and hope for the best.