Brer Putin done put a Iranian Tar-Baby in the road. He gonna lay low and watch Brer Dubya punch his way into the quagmire.
The Tar-Baby
"‘Ef you don’t take off dat hat en tell me howdy, I’m gwine ter bus’ you wide open,’ sezee.
"Tar-Baby stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.
"Brer Rabbit keep on axin’ ’im, en de Tar-Baby, she keep on sayin’ nothin’, twel present’y Brer Rabbit draw back wid his fis’, he did, en blip he tuck ’er side er de head. Right dar’s whar he broke his merlasses jug. His fis’ stuck, en he can’t pull loose. De tar hilt ’im. But Tar-Baby, she stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.
"‘Ef you don’t lemme loose, I’ll knock you agin,’ sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, en wid dat he fotch ’er a wipe wid de udder han’, en dat stuck. Tar-Baby, she ain’y sayin’ nuthin’, en Brer Fox, he lay low.
"‘Tu’n me loose, fo’ I kick de natal stuffin’ outen you,’ sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, but de Tar-Baby, she ain’t sayin’ nuthin’. She des hilt on, en de Brer Rabbit lose de use er his feet in de same way. Brer Fox, he lay low. Den Brer Rabbit squall out dat ef de Tar-Baby don’t tu’n ’im loose he butt ’er cranksided. En den he butted, en his head got stuck. Den Brer Fox, he sa’ntered fort’, lookin’ dez ez innercent ez wunner yo’ mammy’s mockin’-birds.
"‘Howdy, Brer Rabbit,’ sez Brer Fox, sezee. ‘You look sorter stuck up dis mawnin’,’ sezee, en den he rolled on de groun’, en laft en laft twel he couldn’t laff no mo’.
We know the main item on the agenda up in Kennebunkport is Iran.
Iran stay still, and Brer Putin he lay low.
Russia wins both ways if the US and Iran tear each other to shreds in a costly, destructive, bloody war.
Asia Times has excellent coverage of what is at stake for all concerned, but I found the analysis of Russian thinking particularly chilling:
Typical of Russian thinking were the cutting remarks by well-connected political observer Gleb Pavlovskiy. He said, "Iran has never been a friend of Russia, not under any regime. We should remember this. It was not a friend under the shah or during the Islamic Republic ... They are not particularly fond of us. We simply should not forget this."
Pavlovskiy added, "There will be a war [between the US and Iran] but Russia's objective is, number one, perhaps to prevent the war happening altogether. The second is to stay out of the war. The third, naturally, would be to participate in the postwar settlement."
For an excellent imagined Putin-Bush dialog read the snark in Asia Times.