President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia could aim nuclear missiles at Ukraine if its neighbor and former fraternal republic in the Soviet Union joins the NATO alliance and hosts elements of a missile defense system proposed by the Bush administration.
Ukraine's president feigned bewilderment pretty well:
Responding to Putin's remarks, Yushchenko said his country's ambition to join NATO should not be seen as a threat to Russia. "Anything Ukraine is doing in the Western direction is on no account aimed against some third country, not to mention Russia," he said.
NATO membership isn't aimed at Russia? Let's see, a totally uncalled for threat of targetting Ukraine with nukes even though Ukraine is not even mentioned as a site for our proposed missile defenses. Adding to the over nuclear attack threat is economic pressure:
The two leaders settled a dispute in which Russia had threatened to cut off natural as supplies to Ukraine unless it moved toward paying more than $1 billion in overdue bills.
And then there is the large ethnic Russian population in Ukraine that Moscow seeks to leverage into political control.
Yushchenko was being diplomatic with the despotic ruler of the only threat to his country's prosperity and very existence sitting right there.
Is it any wonder nobody wants to be a neighbor of Russia? The whole country is on a holiday from reality.
