Isn't it great that we've got clever people in office now, not like those stoooopid Republicans. At last we have people who know how to engage with the world without being patronizing or condescending. There's been too much American arrogance in recent years. What a relief that's all behind us. Oh wait ...

BARACK OBAMA has accused Vladimir Putin of "living in the past" and indulging in Cold War thinking on the eve of his first trip to Russia since taking office. The US President described the Russian Prime Minister as someone who still has "one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new".

Putin's likely response? A raised middle finger, perhaps?