but your photo is YUGE! And skewed to the left.....

I think Kerry has done a great job as SoS, and very pleased to hear that we're talking to Russia. I agree with your assessment on this. The neocons only want to keep Russia as a boogieman (one of many) because fearmongering makes it easier for them to suck the Treasury dry.

The relations between nations are entirely interest based. Opposing interests breed competition and sometimes conflict. Mutual interests can be the basis of compromise and cooperation. Neither of those are hard and fast rules and both are often a matter of how important the interests are to each party. The human beings involved in discussing the issues have a large influence in whether there are agreements or compromises possible. For now Kerry and Lavrov have an issue upon which they can agree and work together towards solving.

I think what we are seeing in Syria is a merging of a strong interest by both parties in seeing ISIS being eliminated. (A stated competing interest is that Russia wants Assad to remain in control while the US and NATO would love for him to disappear into a black hole.) The reasons that Russia wants ISIS gone is almost certainly different from the reason the US wants the same result. There is a basis for cooperation, to what degree I don't know, but it will change as the status of ISIS, Syria, and the entire mess in the Middle East evolves. I don't see one event with cooperation having any more lasting effect than say the decades long cooperation of the US and Russia in space has had. Perhaps, it can be the basis for increased trust between the current diplomats negotiating some future issue but the tension between the competing interests are more likely to have more influence.

The last thing to expect is friendship. The US and Great Britain are often described as friends in both countries, no? Yet, the US has no problem using electronic means to intrude on their people and into their government's affairs. Our intelligence services are known to have spied on all of our friends at NATO and probably everyone else in the world. I hardly think anyone would honestly suggest that is how friends would act if they want to maintain the friendly relationship. However, common interests create an environment where it can be forgiven after a given amount of outrage and bluster. I even think this is a better mode for a relationship between countries. Think how bad it could get if you caught your best friend taping your phone conversations or videoing your bedroom activities. That's the stuff of future murder charges.

Allies? Hitler and Stalin were allies as long as it suited Hitler. A year or two later it would have been Stalin whose interests broke the alliance with similar nastiness.