Despite the smiles and positive tone of their Russian hosts, when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates arrived to their meeting today at the Kremlin, the air must have been pregnant with low expectations. The warmth from Moscow strikes a contrast with the frustration shown by Gates, who only hours before had complained to reporters on the plane that he was tired of making overly generous offers which fell on deaf ears. But President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Medvedev could afford to both play good cop today, knowing full well that by this time next year Gates and Rice will be lucky if they can continue their complaining about Russia at sparsely attended think tank forums.