A move by Black on the International Chessboard

Putin's puppet Medvedev has just announced that Russia will be placing short-range missiles on the Polish border. Let's think about "why".

Militarily, it's meaningless, or even a bad idea. Missiles based near a border are more vulnerable to ground attack or sabotage. They would not be appreciably closer to any likely targets.

But they are a response to the US move to place missile defences in eastern Europe. Those defences are a product of the Bush administration's general belligerance. But the Bush administration is the lamest of ducks. So it will be the Obama administration that must deal with this.

If Russia had left the matter alone, Obama would be able to cancel the missile defences. But if he does so now, he will appear weak and timid on the world stage, one of the things he can least afford. The Russians know this. Therefore, the only possible conclusion is that they WANT those missile defences there.

My guess is that by painting the US and western Europe as threats to Mother Russia, the Russian government will face less internal resistance to its assumption of whatever powers it wants domestically.