EXCEPT THAT WE'RE JOAN BENOIT:

Standing up to the west (Leader, April 12, 2007, The Guardian)

The Russians counter that the radar would not only to detect any missile within a range of 4,500 kilometres (that covers all of European Russia) but also direct any western missile, whether it has a warhead or not, on to a target in that range. The existence of an "attack" radar on Russia's border changes the strategic balance of nuclear forces negotiated since the Soviet Union signed the now defunct ABM treaty in 1972. Mikhail Gorbachev dismantled a Russian radar of this nature in Krasnoyarsk, in Siberia, for the same reason.

Whoever is right on detail, the outline is clear. The west, through Nato, has stepped into the vacuum created by the withdrawal of Russian forces since the collapse of the Soviet Union. For the countries of eastern Europe and the Baltic states, membership of Nato is the gold standard of independence - and an insurance policy against Russian occupation. But Russia's retreat has not been rewarded by a new era of international cooperation. The west won the cold War and advanced eastwards in time honoured fashion. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia had 2,400 missiles. In five year's time, it will have reduced this to 300. A Russian rocket force of this size is vulnerable to a defence shield which runs from one border to another, given the installation of a radar off the coast of Alaska. Russia is right to think the balance of strategic nuclear forces is changing, and a new arms race has already started.

Anyone remember that Swedish woman marathoner in the '84 Olympics, who was so dehydrated she stumbled the final portion of the race like a rag doll?

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 12, 2007 7:48 AM