Putin is my favorite, this article is pretty funny, I like the way they gave him two personas. I think nice Putin makes me laugh more than regular, shark riding Putin. "They turned out to be wrong. In his first few years, Putin looked like he could go either way. He was curt during his introduction to President Bill Clinton ("We're going to miss ol' Boris," Clinton supposedly remarked afterward to his chief Russia hand, Strobe Talbott) but cozied up to President George W. Bush, especially in the immediate aftermath of September 11. Nice Putin could not have acted any nicer than actual Putin on the day of the event, being the first leader to call the American president with his condolences and offer of support. He canceled military exercises that might have seemed unnecessarily aggressive to the bereaved Americans, and pressured his allies in Central Asia to open their airspace and real estate to U.S. military bases. The good times didn't last (especially when the Bush administration started pushing for a missile shield in Eastern Europe), but for a while you could imagine a Nice Putin, if you wanted to."