So you thought the Soviet Empire died when Ronald Reagan magically made the Berlin Wall disappear, did you? Well, if you did, you were wrong. You were wrong about Reagan’s “magic,” and you are wrong about the Soviet Empire’s demise.

Those Russian tanks and planes spreading death and devastation throughout neighboring Georgia are not merely enjoying target practice. And, believe me, Vladimir Putin and the other KGB alumni who seized control of Russia do not give a tinker’s dam for the nationalistic aspirations of South Ossetia. This is nothing but a revival of the imperialism that sent Soviet tanks into Czechoslovakia and Hungary half a century ago.

This is the Russian bear up on its hind legs once again, grabbing for more land and more power.

And it was China everybody was so worried about! (No, I was never worried about Iraq and I am not worried about Iran. Those are small potatoes compared with the menace of the Kremlin.)

Russia has never been a peaceful, democratic state, and probably never will be. Oppression, deceit and unspeakable cruelty splatter Russian history from the days of Rasputin through the era of Lenin and the blood soaked decades of the monster, Stalin.

To think that this lust for power and blood vanished with the Wall is to be childishly deluded. The bear was hibernating, or more accurately gathering its strength for a new offensive. The spread of Soviet “communism” was an earlier tactic in Russia’s imperialistic strategy. Russia’s bosses never believed in communism or any other ideology; they saw Marxist doctrine as a means of appealing to impressionable people and they used it to try and take over the world.

Now, that Marxism is out of fashion, they will use something else… drugs or prostitution or extortion, or whatever… And, where necessary, they will use bombs and tanks.

President George W. Bush looked into Putin’s eyes and saw his soul. Putin (photo below, right) looked into Bush’s eyes and saw America’s wallet. And Putin realized that America’s wallet is flatter than a Texas taco. Under President Bush, America has become financially dependent on China and has squandered its political capital by invading and occupying Iraq. With its military resources committed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its finances depleted by war and deplorable trade policies, America is weaker than it has ever been.

Putin recognizes this. That’s why he has decided the time has come to rouse the Russian bear from its den. And what can America do about it? Complain to the United Nations? Call Putin names? Stamp its feet and hold its breath till it is blue in the face? Or all of the above?