SOUL BROTHERS IN ARMS

"I looked the man in the eye. I was able to get a sense of his soul."

Now Bush's soul mate is capitalizing on a terrorist attack (which actually didn't even happen in Russia, it happened in Ossetia, a distinct national-ethnic group squeezed between the Chechens, Georgians, and Abkhazians) to roll back the tide of democracy. From today's FT:

Putin, citing the need for the reforms to beat terrorism, has said he will nominate regional governors himself in the future and proposed changes to the electoral system that will effectively stop the rise of a strong parliamentary opposition.

Sounds familiar.