Putin Again

It's only been a couple of days since Putin recalled Cold War tensions.

Now, he is threatening to point nuclear weapons at Ukraine. The issue is NATO membership and, again, anti-missile defenses.

Also on the issue of anti-missile systems, there is speculation that the Pentagon is shooting down one of our own spy satellites not so much because of the danger the satellite might pose, but to do a test of our anti-missile system.

A Return to Cold War Tensions?

Anyone have thoughts on this? Is Putin on target in arguing that missile defense an aggressive act?

'A new phase in the arms race is unfolding' says Putin

Vladimir Putin has used one of the last major speeches of his presidency to deliver a defiant message to the West, accusing it of unleashing a new arms race that left Moscow no choice but to retaliate in kind.
...
It's clear that a new arms race is unfolding in the world," said Mr Putin, one that Russia did not start.

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Mr Putin went into overdrive yesterday, painting Russia as the victim of Western aggression and expansion, and promised a Russian response. He said Western countries spent far more on defence than Russia, and also returned to a theme he has raised many times before – that of Nato enlargement towards Russian borders. "We pulled out of bases in Cuba and Vietnam," he said. "And what did we get? New American bases in Bulgaria and Romania."

He also complained about US plans to build elements of a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic. "They try to persuade us that all these actions are not aimed against Russia," he said, "but they have no constructive answers to our well-founded concerns."

U.S.-Backed Russian Institutes Help Iran Build Reactor

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/washington/07nuke.html

How far / or not have we come since the Cold War? Also what role does the government still play in science?