Russia will deploy short-range missiles near Poland to counter U.S. military plans in Eastern Europe, President Dmitry Medvedev has warned, setting a combative tone that clashed with global goodwill over Barack Obama's election.
Actually, our correct response to this is to yawn and deploy a few NATO tank brigades near Kaliningrad to destroy the launch sites by capturing them if it comes to war.
But mostly yawn. We aren't gearing up to fight Russia, and Russian missiles in Kaliningrad add no more threat to our proposed missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic than Russia's existing missile force and aircraft pose to it. If the Russians want to strut about stroking their missiles, have a blast boys. You look silly and pathetic, but maybe that's just us. You probably look really good on state-abused television in Moscow.
I'm not sure what the Russians hope to achieve with this posturing. But not even Barack Obama, newbie that he is, will be frightened by this statement. The missiles of October this isn't.
