Sunday, December 05, 2010

Lost in the Mail

Beware Russian offers of good will. On the surface, this is good:

Russia has agreed to allow NATO to ship armored vehicles, via Russian railroads, to and from Afghanistan. This is part of a growing cooperation between Russia and NATO to destroy heroin production in Afghanistan. Russia believes NATO can get the job done, and is being more helpful to NATO as a result.

Don't get me wrong, this is good and a sign of cooperation. But don't be surprised if every once in a while an armored vehicle of some sort is lost, or destroyed in a fire, or otherwise just doesn't show up in Afghanistan after being loaded on a train before entering Russia.

Why do I worry about that? Because Russia finds it useful to have Western military gear on hand just in case they need to prove some nefarious Western plot against them.

These days under Putin, Russians will be Russians.