Putin blasts U.S. missile defense leaving Condi "visibly taken aback"

U.S. diplomacy in action.

This morning, NBC's Andrea Mitchell reported on a tough diatribe from Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed across the table at the U.S. Secretaries of State and Defense. According to Mitchell, Condi Rice was "visibly taken aback by Putin's threatening tone..."

Here's the AP report on the ugly meeting:

In a tense start to talks on a range of thorny issues, President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned U.S. officials to back off a plan to install missile defenses in eastern Europe or risk harming relations with Moscow.

Addressing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the Russian president appeared to mock the U.S. missile defense plan, which is at the center of a tangle of arms control and diplomatic disputes between the former Cold War adversaries.

U.S. foreign policy is mockable. And, as the leader of our foreign policy, Condi is certainly mock-worthy.

Condi and Gates are in Russia to sort out the Iran situation. Like that's going to happen.