A good blog venik. I've blogrolled you as "Opinionated Russky" - as a compliment.

My take on the current moves is that NATO wants to withdraw from Afghanistan (and partially from Iraq) in a year or two.

That will be a political defeat for NATO but it will free up military forces/(money for allies) that will be redeployed against Russia in Poland, Czech, (already in) Georgia, and most importantly in Ukraine. This pressure on Russia and predictable counter-action will provide a distraction for the Afghan/Iraqi "Peace with Honor".

As many have said this new Cold War will also help McCain get into power, keep him there and justify the sky high US defence budget.

Medvedev/Putin meanwhile will also have a "noble" reason to lead strongly and boost the power/budget of the grateful Russian Armed Forces.

Basically the War on Terror is Out (and politically boring) while Bear baiting is back in vogue.

Peter Coates
http://spyingbadthings.blogspot.com/