It’s no wonder why the FSB vaguely threatened to assassinate Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.  In just the first wave of confidential diplomatic cables released yesterday, we get the opportunity to how officials of the U.S. government really felt about relations with their new partners in Russia, underscoring the profound cynicism of Obama’s reset policy.  And apparently, there is much more to come once Wikileaks taps its Russian archives.

Apart from a near total obsession with Russia only through the prism of Iran, the wires also reveal a specifically detailed awareness of Russia’s democratic unraveling, which contrasts sharply with the president’s positive statements on the relationship.  Vladimir Putin is described as the “Alpha Dog” of a “vitrual mafia state,” while Dmitry Medvedev “plays Robin to Putin’s Batman.” The Guardian has also highlighted the leaked cables which express U.S. concern over Putin’s burgeoning relationship with Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, including “lavish gifts”, lucrative energy contracts and the presence of a “shadowy” Russian-speaking liaison who gets the deals done. In others words, the memos confirm much of what we have been publishing here over the past few years.