Doesn't the United States already have enough problems to deal with in the world? Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi remain at large, our work in Afghanistan and Iraq remains incomplete, and North Korea and Iran are both poised to become nuclear powers. So why do so many think Russia's daily twists and turns are our biggest problem? One would think that in 2005 the danger of a nuclear terrorist attack or the economic damage that would be caused by a major energy crisis are far more pressing concerns for the United States than regular complaints, however justified, about Moscow's many faults. Are we still reacting with Cold War reflexes--rather than dealing squarely with the new threats that endanger American national security?
Of course, while Russia is not the Soviet superpower of old, it still remains the only country in the world capable of utterly destroying the United States. So if the country's vast nuclear arsenal is in the hands of a Mussolini-like dictator who is creating a fascist state and is bent on imperial expansion--in the characterization of a former senior U.S. government official--then this is indeed a worrying development. But just one nuclear weapon, detonated in Washington or New York, would be enough to change America forever. And the people looking for just one warhead are likely to use it--at least more so than a country that has had thousands for decades.
