I’m just amazed by the dizzying news cycle of all these broadcast outlets during my brief visit to New York City this week. It’s actually quite hypnotic and surreal … I think that a few more days of this and I won’t even remember what was happening amongst the elections gossip of just yesterday.

So a comment before I lose the shelf life on this one: I am completely blown away by the stupidity of a comment made by the Democratic vice president candidate Sen. Joe Biden about Sen. Barack Obama, that the prospective nominee would face serious “tests” from a variety of foreign leaders if elected.

I think it was an incredibly stupid comment because it is almost unbearably true, and really provided the Republican ticket with something to talk about for three straight days … which has become tedious for everybody by this point.

However the idea of the “test” I believe especially rings true in terms of relations with Russia. I have commented elsewhere that I think that the German social democrats (SPD) have accidentally bet their next election on the victory of McCain, and similarly, the last thing that Russia wants to deal with is a resurgence of American soft power as symbolized by the Obama campaign (everybody remember the Obamamania of Europe?).

So if he does win, the Russians are only going to have a short amount of time to damage his reputation through a creative series of tests, and taint him with incompetence and international scorn … ideally in Europe. I hope that Washington is already thinking about what kinds of tests Russia might be cooking up right now, no matter who wins.

Last 5 posts by Robert Amsterdam

• Practicing Legal Nihilism - November 24th, 2009
• Energy Blast - Nov 24, 2009 - November 24th, 2009
• Today in Russian Business - Nov 24, 2009 - November 24th, 2009
• RA's Daily Russian News Blast - Nov 24, 2009 - November 24th, 2009
• Russia's China Envy - November 23rd, 2009