Just in case Washington gets too comfortable with the idea it has got Russia back onside, Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister, was in China yesterday to keep the US on its toes. Barack Obama has certainly made progress in “resetting” the relationship with Moscow. The US president has already reaped some rewards in terms of Russia's more accommodating line on Iran. But Mr Putin's visit to Beijing, coinciding neatly with US secretary of state Hillary Clinton's own trip to Moscow, underlined that Russia has other options.
俄羅斯總理弗拉迪米爾·普丁(Vladimir Putin)昨日訪華，此舉彷彿是爲了讓華盛頓保持緊張心態，免得它過於踏實，以爲自己又爭取到了俄羅斯。巴拉克·歐巴馬(Barack Obama)在「重新調整」美俄關係方面，肯定取得了一些進展。這位美國總統已經得到一些回報，比如俄羅斯在對待伊朗的問題上採取了更爲配合的立場。但是，在美國國務卿希拉里·柯林頓(Hillary Clinton)訪問莫斯科之際，普丁對北京的訪問突顯出，俄羅斯有著其它的選擇。