Virtual Collector: Analysis: Russia is a foe to be reckoned with

Virtual Collector: Analysis: Russia is a foe to be reckoned with: "Last month, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's hawkish ambassador to Nato refused to reveal how the Kremlin would retaliate if Poland agreed to co-host an American missile defence shield.
But he did promise that the response would come as a 'pleasant surprise' for the West.

Just as he intended, the Kremlin's reply was neither pleasant nor, entirely, a surprise.

Alongside the ambitions of Georgia and Ukraine to join Nato, missile defence has been the principal source of tension between Moscow and the West. Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, has threatened to retrain nuclear missiles on Europe for the first time since Soviet times and Russia has already walked away from an arms treaty that was pivotal in ending the Cold War.

But the Russians have gone even further in their threats. Poland faces not just the prospect of having Russian missiles pointing in its direction but also risks '100 percent' a military attack. And not just any attack, if Gen Anatoly Nogovitysn is to be believed, but a nuclear attack."