At the same time, we’ve got President Dmitry Medvedev trying to correct the situation with his article “Go, Russia!” and the suggestion that the government consider a proposal by a blogger named Maxim Kalashnikov to build a prototype city of the future. Kalashnikov is not alone — I can also make a few recommendations to the president on ways to playground equipment improve conditions in Russia. For example, he could use a fortuneteller to tweak the future and an astrologist to clear the channel between his body and his mind. Or I could toss the president the phone numbers of a couple of people who could put him in direct communication with the star Sirius on any cloudless night of his choosing.

Clever political analysts hurried to interpret the president’s article to mean that a rift had formed between Putin and Medvedev. Forget it. How could there be a rift between the one man who holds all the power in this country firmly in his grasp and his obedient sidekick who never had any power to begin with?

I think Medvedev’s article, like the blogger inflatable bouncers Kalashnikov’s pipe dream, is the symptom of a completely different illness — the complete and total paralysis of authority in Russia.

Russia has become completely ungovernable. Imagine if Medvedev wanted to issue a weighty command — and not even something really serious like freeing jailed former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky or firing Putin. Consider what would happen if the government decided to reduce customs duties. The smugglers would make sure that the law never passed. Or what would happen if Medvedev decided to oust Mayor Yury Luzhkov? The wheels of government would grind to a halt for a full year. If it took Medvedev four months to name a replacement for the Moscow police naughty castles chief, imagine how long it would take to find someone to replace Luzhkov.

And when the mechanism of government has stopped working, leaders are forced to busy themselves with the semblance of activity: writing inspirational articles, considering proposals by unknown bloggers and renaming harmless restaurants.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Rasmussen rightly acknowledged that NATO-Russia relations have a great deal of untapped potential during a major policy speech in Brussels on Friday. However, he said, relations are burdened with misperceptions, distrust and differing agendas. Rasmussen believes that NATO and Russia spend too much energy pearl jewelry focusing on issues over which they disagree, rather than concentrating on common interests.

Rasmussen, who took office in August, made the reasonable suggestion that NATO-Russia relations be given a “new beginning” and that “greater pearl necklace realism” should prevail. At his first news conference on Aug. 3, he announced the need to establish a positive strategic partnership between NATO and Russia, and on Friday he said the relationship should become “far more productive in the future.”

The NATO chief made three concrete, interrelated proposals toward that goal. First, he said NATO and Russia should quickly work to strengthen their practical cooperation in areas where both sides face common risks and security threats. Second, they should infuse new energy into the NATO-Russia Council with the aim of using it as a forum for open and dispassionate dialogue on ways to provide peace and stability in Europe. Third, he called for a joint pearl ring review of new security challenges in the 21st century and the laying of a firm foundation for future cooperation.

These are all well-founded and logical suggestions. Carrying them out would help break the deep impasse where NATO-Russia relations have fallen as a result of NATO’s large-scale use of force against Yugoslavia in 1999 and Georgia’s military aggression against South Ossetia and Russian peacekeepers in August 2008.