With a direct personal attack on the Vice President of the United States, Russia fired the first shot in Cold War II.

America responded with a right cross denying Russia access to the WTO, and now for the uppercut, as reported by the Moscow News:

The United States will not recognize a Belarus-Russia Union state, U.S. ambassador to Belarus George Krol has said, referring to the Department of State’s statements. Krol declared that Washington will reject the results of the referendum on establishing the union state, Interfax reported.The ambassador said the referendum in the climate of restrictions to freedom of expression in Belarus does not guarantee to reflect the Belarusian people’s will. The diplomat also expressed concern whether referendum in Russia will be democratic. “It is difficult to say how real the danger of the unification of Belarus with Russia is,” he said. The diplomat noted that the development of these events in such way causes concern not only in the United States but also in several European states bordering on Belarus.Krol also stressed the absence of information on the structure and Constitution of the new union state.Russia and Belarus have been discussing a union state with a common customs area, economic policy and political regulations for almost a decade.

To say the least, it's quite clear that Russia has gone stark raving mad. A little bit of oil revenue has gone to its head like giant bottle of samagon, and it now thinks not only that it is a global force to be reckoned with but that it can, once again, take on the United States in direct confrontation. It's deja vu all over again. This is the same total detachment from reality that caused the USSR to think it could provoke the U.S., and remember that the USSR had rough economic parity with the US and double its population. Today, the Russian economy, oil bonanza and all, is one-tenth the size of the U.S. and Russia's population is half that of America (the former is shrinking while the latter is growing). Yet, it appears, Russians have been just waiting for the chance to burst forth and fight round 2 of the Cold War.