Submitted by donald Finkel, Aug 11, 2008 11:15

The current situation is the result of foreign policy decisions made, after the break-up Yugoslavia and the consequential problems in Bosnia and Kosovo. The notion of the former Russian satellite republics, Poland, and Hungary being members of NATO is also a thorn in Russia's side. The cooling of Russia's relationship with Cuba for a while after the fall of the USSR was a point at which a signal was given that perhaps Russia was open to a new cooperative spirit. All this has vanished. Russia is getting back into the Americas (Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia ). It is Iran's chief military and nuclear benefactor. The future president will have problems that require deft foreign policy techniques.

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