A Russian Moderate?

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NATO's 27 members will meet with Putin after holding their own summit in early April, where the focus should be on the alliance's deepening problems in Afghanistan. Bush will need to maintain alliance unity on that issue rather than risk new divisions by pushing for military agreements with Ukraine and Georgia, as some at the White House want.

"Putin wants to be preoccupied with domestic business," Peskov told me, portraying the Bucharest meeting as something of a swan song on the international scene for his boss.

Who knows? It could be true -- even if Putin doesn't mean it to be. The examples of Claudius, Sadat and others show that underestimating understudies can be dangerous. Come to think of it, I guess Putin didn't bother to see "All About Eve" when it was shown at the KGB's intelligence training school during his student days in 1985, according to another graduate of that institution.

Footnote: Last Sunday I wrote about Austrian journalist Karl Wendl being solicited by e-mail to donate to the Clinton, Obama and McCain campaigns, even though such contributions would violate U.S. law. The day after the column was published, the e-mail blasts to Wendl from the campaigns ceased.

jimhoagland@washpost.com