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PRESIDENT DMITRI Medvedev of Russia has stolen some headlines from the almost universal welcome for Barack Obama's election with his announcement that short-range Iskander missiles and radioelectronic jamming machines are to be positioned in Kaliningrad. This, he says, is intended to protect Russia from the perceived threat of a proposed United States missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

His blunt warning that the new US administration must "make a choice in favour of a full-fledged relationship with Russia" came in his first presidential state of the nation address since he succeeded Vladimir Putin. It can be read as the opening shot in a new cold war with the West or more convincingly as a clear statement that Russian interests should not be overlooked in any policy reappraisal following Mr Obama's victory. The Democrats are much less committed to missile defence, believing it is technically unproven and prohibitively expensive.