the quote was flagged by chris for granville.ked as a criminologist for the british foreign office in moscow. you propose a kind of test that vladimir putin might actually be speaking sincerely about his need for his own security around russia, and that the only way to figure out whether he is again sincerely is to negotiate with him as if he is stopped christopher -- if he is. christopher: all you have to do is pay careful attention to what president vladimir putin says and other russian people. our russian friends are great talkers. you don't need to infer dark motivations. just listen closely. anyone who announces they know president cputin's motivations and plans and should be treated skeptically. he does not know himself. in his youth, he was a judo star, they react to put their opponents on the floor. brendan: we can go back and say we should take their security concerns seriously, but isn't it too late to do that now? perhaps in 2002, we should have handled nato expansion differently, but is it too late now? :when people -