Conventional Arms Treaty

The Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, has voted to abandon "temporarily" the 1990 treaty on conventional forces in Europe.

Nothing like this happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin's wishing it to happen. We may not be back to the Cold War yet, but it would seem that we are inching in that direction. Considering that Russia exports a lot of natural gas to Germany and other nations in Europe, the concerns of the Cassandras, who said that it was not a good idea for the Western Europeans to be so reliant on Russia for energy sources, may yet be validated.