The missile defense shield is one of the most insanely idiotic ideas to ever come out of a Republican administration - a relic from the Reagan administration, a pipe dream that doesn’t really work, but gives billions of dollars to defense contractors to try anyway.

This administration has done its best to convince us that the gravest threat we face is from terrorism. It stands to reason that terrorists aren’t going to attack us with ICBMs. It seems logical that the best way to prevent nuclear war is to disarm nuclear weapons. But logic and reason have never been the strong suits of this administration, or Republicans in general.

Which, of course, brings us to Russia. Six years after George W. Bush “looked into his soul,” the antidemocratic President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has threatened to point all of his country’s nukes at Europe if the United States builds a missile defense shield there. Again, logic fails here. Why we would want to provoke this kind of reaction, especially on such a stupid idea, really doesn’t follow any rational pattern.

He’s done his best to turn the Middle East into one giant war zone, allow North Korea to get nuclear weapons, and strain relations with just about every foreign power outside of Great Britain. Now it seems like Bush wants to restart the Cold War. And Putin, who is the same type of autocratic ruler Russia has seen for decades, seems more than willing to oblige.

Seriously, January 20, 2009 cannot possibly come soon enough. Try not to start another war in the meantime.