Russia Welcomes Obama with Missiles

President Medvedev greeted Obama’s elections with an escalation of his challenge to America’s NATO alliance with Europe. He announced the siting of short-range Iskander surface-to-surface missiles on the borders of the EU states of Poland and Lithuania, saying it was in response to the erection of an American missile shield in Eastern Europe. “Medvedev’s speech had been postponed twice and commentators in Moscow say it is no accident that the Kremlin decided it should be delivered on the day the United States presidential election results were announced,” The Daily Telegraph reports. “They suggested that Russia was deliberately attempting to test Mr Obama’s mettle.”