The Bear Wakes

Russia showed her teeth with the attack last year on Georgia after manufacturing a provocation that would have made Stalin proud. Just as the Soviets had expansionist ambitions, Putin's (not Medvedev, he is a figurehead) Russia seeks to rekindle the greater Russia at least in the territory comprising the Soviet states less the small Baltic region of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia who are now firmly in the camp of the West. Russia clawed at the Ukraine with the natural gas cutoff which also served as a little saber-rattling to the rest of Europe to let them know that the Russian state is still a military super-power and a force to be reckoned with, and can play dangerous games at will such a denying much of Europe its source of heat at the coldest time of year. Putin and his lackey Medvedev no longer broach internal dissent, routinely disrupting even the small rallies against what has become totalitarian rule. Numerous reporters who have investigated or criticized the regime, have been attacked, some even killed to silence them. Russia even orchestrated the murder of a former spy who had become a detractor in the heart of London. Russia is aiding proliferation and propping up the regimes that most threaten the West and Israel, readily supplying Iran and Syria with advanced weapons and helping Iran to complete her nuclear project. Russia today is every bit the source of mischief and instability she ever was.