The Women Of Putin's Russia

We may not like the politics, but we love the women

C *>£ uring the Cold War Russia was portrayed as a drab, joyless place where a drunken

X- A^k populace waited in line for stale bread and tried to avoid arrest by the secret police

m | for complaining. It wasn't all capitalist propaganda—Russia really was a drab, joy-

^^M 1 less place. Then the Soviet Union broke up and we merrily peppered our cocktail

^^^^~S chatter with imported buzzwords. Sadly, those seductive wenches glasnost and

perestroika are now dead. It's increasingly clear that Russia's new boss, Vladimir Putin, has a lot in

common with many of the country's old bosses. (But honestly, can there ever be another Stalin?)

Time magazine's Person of the Year 2007 profile of the man our president calls Pootie-Poot was

aptly titled "A Tsar Is Born." But enough politics. Better to turn to Russia's best asset: its women. If

the beauties here don't brighten your outlook on the future, you're hopeless. Or Russian.