To German Voice;
Oh dear; please do not think that I am suggesting to fight a worldwide war on terrorism with that tiny group. But strongly feel that the reason behind the coalition forces’ considerable casualties is to a far extent the crowded battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan.

@GOT, FRED
I agree with some of your basic viewpoints, but it's naive to believe that the international terrorism can be defeated by one hundred hunters. It's a worldwide network of brainwashed hardheads. The NAZIS Bin Laden and Al Zawahri are just two of them. However, the war has just begun and it will take some more time until the job is done.

To J. Rhinehart;
It is part of my professional and academic field.

TO GOT, Fred,
Where do you get your information?

Tsarist (Czarist) Russia, Soviet Russia, or Federal Russia is only changing its skin but not core. The Soviet men are everywhere in Putin’s administration, but all of them playing democrats, exactly like those foxes ruling over the ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia. Sheer dictatorship polished with a thin layer of openness with the west.
Russia has a global strategy since the mid 1990s. Evgeny Maksimovich Primakov, Russia’s Prime Minister, foreign Minister, and deputy chairman of the KGB, visited India in 1996, directly after a visit to Peking where he revealed part of that strategy. He said, Russia is willing to stabilize the world by creating an Asian triangle that will include Russia, China, and India. The obstacle here was the suppressed, some times not suppressed, Cino-Indian historic animosity. Russia followed a course of dealing with and building strong relations with each of those Asian giants individually. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was created by Russia and China initially in the shadow of the predicaments faced the Asian Triangle, but the SCO is more lethal: it included six Muslim states: Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, plus two with the observer status: Pakistan and Iran.
Russia strives for full membership of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). It is clear now that Russia prefers securing Iran as a pacified Muslim neighbor, to maintaining Poland, Bulgaria, or Romania as Socialist satellites. Syria is clearly more important strategically for Russia than Tajikistan or Kirgizstan. Russia is following very unusual path: supporting Iran’s nuclear program, next week Hamas’s strong man, Khalid Mash’al is going to visit Moscow for two days, also it is unwise to neglect the Russian sympathy toward Hizbullah. Last week Putin paid unusual visit to three important Middle Eastern countries: Saudi Arabia, Qatar (the home of the largest US base in the region), and Jordan. His entourage included many Russian Muslim officials. Russia succeeded in busying the west with the Afghan quandary chasing Bin Laden and az-Zawahri. Does Taliban and Al-Qaeda need all that power to be defeated? One hundred brilliant intelligence officers, assisted by one hundred locals will bring Bin Laden and az-Zawahri to where they should be. Blind areas in a region stuffed with hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers are great, while the same region would be clear and peaceful if managed (monitored) by few vigilant intelligent officers.
Russia is approaching the Middle East with new stratagem based on supporting the Palestinian rights. The west has to stop ignoring this issue, solve it once and for all. This will pacify not only Israel’s neighbors, but also Afghanistan and Iraq.
In the European arena, Russia is waiting the moment of the EU go crumbling. How? Most of the East European countries will fail meeting the high standards of the EU, and will turn to be a burden on the EU. Some of these countries will face hard times soon, at that moment they will look to Russia for help. We will see moments of this scenario in the next few years. Then Russia will be able to play its historical role afresh as the Big Brother and the Gendarme of Europe, but this time with deep roots in Asia. At that moment, taming the bear will be exhausting job: politically, economically, and militarily.

Well said. We should worry. Competition is good for every one and in every thing. Alternative voices, variety in opinions and ideas are the best as "absolute power corrupts, absolutely".

Right now, Washington is acting like a Mafia Cappo (and not the Don). The Cappo always want to get something from the shopkeeper in the neighbourhoos, but give back nothing and call its PROTECTION, or "Security". From time to time, the Don in Mafia will at least give back some thing in form of a favour, a fix or asking another coprrupt official to take a bribe and look the other way. A kind of conductor in an orchestra.

But right now America is acting like the street Cappo that wants to show that it is the tough guy. So, Putin was right in Munich: No body feels safe any more. Time for prosecution of the Mafia and busting it up!

Miklos Vamos: "On the other hand, if we are listening carefully instead of worrying, we might see that President Putin has a point. The actions of the U.S. are aggressive, and NATO is becoming a new Big Brother. The most powerful nations should hold off from determining what is good for the people of other nations. Some political (and military) modesty would be the best remedy for our worries of late."

I understand that such slogans are welcomed in the socialistic corner, but calling the NATO a Big Brother? Come on! Be serious! The NATO is an alliance of several nations, therefore, you should name the NATO Big Brothers and not Big Brother, right? By the way, Russia has close relations with the NATO. In addition, Russia has been informed about every single step of the NATO in the past decades. So what?

United States actions are agressive? Should I laugh? Again, be serious! NAZI-terrorists, supported by socialist countries, have declared war and the United States are defending themselves and their allies! Can we call that aggresive actions? I would call it defensive actions! It seems that you would call terrorists freedom fighters, right? Poor Miklos Vamos!

@ANONYMOUS
Have you evidences that 9/11 has been an inside job or are you just spreading conspiracy theories?

More information about the myths of 9/11 can be found at
http://www.debunking911myths.com/ and
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html

Remember 1956.

Is Miklós Vámos saying that Canada should worry that the US would nuke Calgary? And if he is, how did he ever become a relatively famous intellectual? Or is making flippantly ignorant remarks about the US a populist prerequisite for his station?

9/11 was a conspiracy and Bush Baby had prior knowledge. It was written all over his stupid face.

There is no danger of another Cold War between the U.S. and Russia. It’s not a bipolar world at the moment. The U.S. controls it alone. But things were once different, and it’s small wonder that President Putin longs for a time when 50% of the world cake belonged to the Soviet Union. I WOULD USE AN ANAOLOGY OF THE ATOM. THE EARTH IS THE NUCLEUS WITH POLITICAL SPHERES OF INFLUENCE CIRCUMVENTING IT. RIGHT NOW THERE IS A DARK INFLUENCE....A LACK OF LIGHT. IN A WORD FASCISM that is screwing up the balance and creating charges that draw certain sub-atomic particles to their loci. Russia is definitely one of the Good spheres of influence. Unfortunately, Bush Baby and Company are pretty damn evil and they display it with every attempt to "torture" me. I'm laughing at their stupid brain dead tactics. Get your licks in Bush Baby cause you won't have access to it where you're going! hahahahahahah grin!

Terrific article. The US is TOO aggressive the world over while NATO (more or less) turns its back. I, for one, would like to see Russia regain its full potential as a powerful world power. That would keep the US in check and make them think twice before they go hopping about the globe using taxpayers money as though it were coming out of their ears? One of the democratic members of congress said it best - The US administration should concentrate on being the Peacemaker (it once was), rather than Warmonger.

Well, let's not refer to the actions of the executive branch of the US as the entire US. There are a bunch of us here who do not want anything to do with much of our current controversial role in world affairs. I think that was evident by our November elections. I get tired of everyone in the US being stereotyped as a warmonger.

However I completely agree with the rest of the article. You won't get much discussion on your articles when you are correct.

In your life expect some trouble
But when you worry
You make it double
Don't worry, be happy......
Whatever it is
Don't worry, be happy

Bobby McFerrin

On a academic note, neuroscience is informative; please see:

Neural Systems Responding to Degrees of Uncertainty in Human Decision-Making
Hsu et al.
Science 9 December 2005: 1680-1683
DOI: 10.1126/science.1115327

Turns out, certainty is our brains' way of filtering out worry. Certainty, moral and othewise, looks to be a certain steady state, but look at how dangerous it is. On the other hand, unfortunately, worrying causes our limbic systems to go into overdrive, exaggerating dramatic threats, and ignoring real threats that appear insigificant. Clear eyed pragmatism is what is needed.

With apologies to Bobby, don't worry, but don't be too happy--listen.