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David Cameron's call in Moscow for a "new approach based on co-operation" with Russia revealed the prime minister's pragmatic side. Vladimir Putin is no Muammar Gaddafi, to be chased out of office as a matter of humanitarian principle, although the two men do share some unfortunate characteristics. And Russia, a strategic, geographical and energy giant, is no Libya, to be forcibly remoulded to western tastes. Britain needs the business. That's why Cameron declared the "tit-for-tat" politics of the recent past must cease.