He will have even more power than ever — stealth power and little if any accountability. President Bush said he looked into Putin’s eyes and saw his soul.
I look into Putin’s eyes and I see two chess pieces.

In our part of the world we tend to view Vladimir Putin as the ice man, an emotionless and heartless man who has designs on the gold in our lives, maybe even in our teeth. It is startling to see how romantic he can appear with his wife.

Recently, he was photographed with Lyudmila, who I think is very attractive, taking a walk in the rare Russian sunshine — it looked to me as if she had her hand in his inside his pocket and he had a bouquet of flowers in his other hand. They were smiling the way two people smile who are happily intimate and I had this sudden picture of them curled up together in front of a fire, saying sexy things to each other, considering the possibility of more little Putins. There is, in fact, a movie out in Russia called "This Kiss is off the Record" — the producers deny it is a story about the Putins. But that photograph of Vladimir and his bouquet tucked in his pocket made me wonder about the other side of Vladimir Putin — the side with the soul and the heart and the tenderness and the bouquets of flowers.

If you see or read about that side of Vladimir, would you please pass it on to us so that we can share it with others?