The Russian bear roared

Russia's president congratulated Barack Obama. He then went on to announce Moscow will station missiles on its European enclave of Kallingrad in response to Herr Bush's forward policy of putting missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic as a warning to Iran! Herr Bush's logic strains the imagination since the missiles are in Russia's backyard, so to Russia's way of thinking, Iran is a figure of speech for Russia. The Polish prime minister smiled at Russia's move by dismissing it as a Russian growl...in other words, the Russian wolfhound barks but doesn't bite. The stationing of Russian missiles in Kallingrad simply makes relations with its neighbours in Europe tenser and more unsettling. Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, sighed with disappointment, but without a note of seriousness. Russia is serious; Herr Bush is not; he lacks a sense of history or for that matter why Churchill and Roosevelt couldn't but allow a Russian cordon sanitaire in eastern Europe after the end of world war 2. Herr Bush broke that sense of calm by his forward military policy in eastern Europe and then his wanting the Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO. So, president elect Obama has another load of tsuris to carry before he enters office, and a clash with Russia at the green carpet is not one he would welcome. Beware of the growl of the Russian bear! Avoid adverturism!