Welcome to the New Cold War

A couple of stories suggest that the Georgia invasion was merely the opening sortie of a new cold war:

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia says its response to the further development of a U.S. missile shield in Poland will go beyond diplomacy.

Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the U.S. missile shield plans are clearly aimed at weakening Russia.

The U.S. says the missile defense system is aimed at protecting the U.S. and Europe from future attacks from states like Iran.

The United States and Poland signed a deal Wednesday to place a U.S. missile defense base just 115 miles from Russia's westernmost fringe.

And this doesn't sound too good either:

OSLO, Norway (AP) - Norway's Defense Ministry says Russia has informed it that it plans to cut all military ties with NATO.

Ministry spokeswoman Heidi Langvik-Hansen says the country's embassy received a telephone call from Russia's Defense Ministry on Wednesday, saying Moscow plans "to freeze all military cooperation with NATO and allied countries."

Putin wants the old Soviet Union back, including those countries like Poland and what is now the Czech Republic. It wouldn't surprise me if he also wants the old East Germany back while he's at it. He was deeply offended at the breakup of the old Soviet system, and I think he's going to do what he can to put it back together. Dangerous times are coming.

I can't help but wonder if he's acting now knowing that the Bush presidency is coming to a close and the next president will either be a pushover (Obama) or a tough guy (McCain), and he wants to make gains now betting that it won't be the pushover. Hard to tell.

Blogger buddy Mark Daniels has more thoughts on the Russian invasion and what it all means here.