Word: sphere
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...When the Soviet Union sent missiles to Cuba, within range of the U.S., President John F. Kennedy responded resolutely. Now that the U.S. is bringing countries in Russia's sphere of interest into NATO, why should we expect Russian leaders to react any differently? Klaus Wagener, Rio De Janeiro...
...brainer for both candidates. Americans remain, to the continuing bafflement of other Westerners, stubbornly religious - a consistent 85% tell pollsters at the Pew Research Center that religion is an important part of their life. And for the most part, they don't separate religion from the political sphere. In those same polls, 70% of Americans say they want their President to be a person of faith. For Obama and McCain, an evening spent discussing matters of faith with the country's most popular Evangelical author and pastor would seem a relatively easy way to get that particular ticket punched...
...Russia's brutal response to Georgia's provocation had, in fact, obliged NATO to intervene, the Atlantic Alliance itself might have faced a terminal crisis. Most of its member states have no enthusiasm for confronting a resurgent Russia in the Caucasus, traditionally a Russian sphere of influence. The Alliance, for one thing, is having enough trouble maintaining 71,000 troops in Afghanistan, where they are managing only to tread water against mounting odds. Other arguments against confrontation: much of Western Europe is wholly dependent on Russian energy supplies, and European negotiators believe there is little chance of a diplomatic solution...
...Cold War relic. The Russians complain that following the demise of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Treaty Organization, the U.S. reneged on promises to create a new global security order and instead moved to expand its own Cold War military alliance - NATO - into Moscow's own sphere of influence...
Through it all, Russia bided its time - until Georgia offered up a golden opportunity last Friday. By invading its neighbor, Russia has crossed the Rubicon, demonstrating that the Caucasus sit squarely and solely in Russia's sphere of influence. Moscow's long-term objectives in Georgia no doubt are to install a friendly government in Tbilisi (it has tried more than once to do that since Georgian independence), keep Georgia out of NATO, stop the flow of arms into Chechnya and take control of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the only important export route from the Caspian that does...