From the BBC today: Russian warships have set off for Venezuela for joint exercises unprecedented since the Cold War.

To my elected officials: please, please, please don’t allow for Cold War II.

I’ve for a long time perceived that increasingly large parts of the world hated us. And it’s easy to think, “So what if Venezuela hates us?,” or “So what if Iran’s crazy leaders hate us?” But what about when all of these countries start banding together, and get support by an increasingly-deranged superpower with plenty of nuclear weapons? Mutually assured destruction doesn’t work when the enemy is suicidal or just downright crazy. I’m really not convinced that the MAD theory would keep Hugo Chavez or Ahmadinejad from launching nuclear weapons.

Our current foreign policy reminds me of a schoolyard bully. We probably have the biggest and best military. We can stand up, flex our muscles, and get our way. But bullies don’t know how to use diplomacy and avoid fights, only how to come out bloodied but on top. We shouldn’t go praising Russia or Chavez anytime soon, but, uhh, it’s high time we did something other than goading them into war.