That clears that up

What Putin and Georgie have been up to in their little meetings...a return to the mutually financially profitable "cold war". And thus, Condi will look a little more like she knows something, what with her Russian studies background.

President Vladimir Putin says Russia's armed forces will soon have access to advanced nuclear missile systems unlike those held by other countries.

Speaking to high-ranking military officials Wednesday, Putin said that while international terrorism was one of the main threats facing Russia, the country's nuclear defenses also had to be kept up to date.

[...]

"We are conducting research and are testing the most up-to-date nuclear missile systems, which, I'm sure, will be supplied to the armed forces in the near future," Putin was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

"What is even more important, these systems will have no analogues in the other nuclear powers during the next few years."

CNN article

If Russia has a new weapon, we're going to have to get one, too. (Of course it could all be hokum, and here we go again.)

Don't worry. We're on it.

The other big space news comes from NASA, which pulled off a successful test flight of their scramjet engine. The unmanned scramjet got up to almost Mach 10 in the course of its 90-second flight. That's fast enough to get anywhere on the globe in two hours. The military is of course interested in the technology for use in missiles and bombers, but it might also see use in space launches.

A scramjet is an air-breathing rocket that sucks in oxygen from the atmosphere and uses it to burn its fuel. Traditional rockets must carry liquid oxygen on-board, which adds to their weight and decreases their payload capacity.

ARS Technica article

And if this administration was way off target when the terrorist attacks came 'round, focusing on the cold war with Russia instead, then maybe they'll just remanufacture it. And then won't you feel silly for having doubted their strategy?

Dust off your tax wallet, and get ready to give back that $300.