And The Winner Is...Russia

This may be as anti-climatic as the selection of the Messiah as Time’s “Person of the Year”, but it appears that Russia will be the likely winner of the Joe Biden “Gird Your Loins” Contest. Just prior to the election this past November, vice presidential candidate Joe Biden warned fellow Obama donors that some in the world will seek to test the new president very early in his new administration, pointing to detailed intelligence reports for the basis of his premonition. Speculation at the time centered on the usual suspects: Korea, Iran and Russia.

But Russia’s recent decision to “give” Lebanon 10 MiG-29 fighter jets, its Navy’s recent joint maneuvers with Venezuela and its invasion of Georgia last summer would seem to catapult the Kremlin to the head of the pack. These developments, combined with Russia’s dwindling petrol dollar wealth in the wake of plummeting oil prices, point to Putin playing the part of the mustachioed villain on the world stage.