TODAY: NATO resumes relations with Russia – US position under scrutiny, Russia triumphant; Ukraine to set up special group to improve Russian relations; Bahrain and Russia to cooperate; Russia refuses to ban cluster bombs; Politkovskaya lawyer says the accused offered to turn himself in; Medvedev to crack down on unjust courts.

NATO ministers have agreed on a ‘conditional and graduated‘ resumption of contact with Russia after a punitive break following the Georgian war.  Georgia and Ukraine will be given assistance with building up their weapons supplies, but NATO membership is now so far off ‘that Moscow must be wondering what all the fuss was about‘.  This report sees the news as a ‘snub‘ to the US, another sees the US as ‘softening its stance‘.  Condoleezza Rice insisted that it was ‘not business as usual‘, but Dmitry Rogozin hailed NATO’s supposed prioritizing of its relationship with Russia.