Recent statements by Russian officials have taken an ominous tone. In one speech, President Vladimir Putin accused the United States of trying to impose its will on the world, while other leaders warn that American plans to install missile defenses in Europe will force Russia to target the host countries in the event of war. These comments reflect Moscow's frustration over what it perceives as U.S. failure to consider its interests when making policy and a new confidence about its place in the world. Russia is flexing its muscles, but it is also worried about a world order that is dangerously unstructured and prone to conflict.

In his Feb. 10 speech to a Munich security conference, Mr. Putin accused the U.S. of the "hyper-use of military force" that is "plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts." In "the world of one master, one sovereign," Washington "has overstepped its national borders, and in every area." Mr. Putin has repeatedly expressed concern about the extension of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to Russia's borders. In Munich he warned that deploying missile defenses in Europe could unleash a new arms race. At times, he seemed nostalgic for the certainties of the Cold War and the old superpower condominium, with its spheres of influence, its arms control agreements -- and the unquestioned status it afforded Moscow

Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, Russia's army chief of staff, concurred, arguing that the missile defense system "cannot be viewed as anything other than a substantial reconfiguration of the American military presence" in Europe. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the claim that it is intended to defend against rogue states, saying it could work against Russia's nuclear deterrent. Finally, Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, head of Russia's missile forces, pulled off the gloves, warning that Poland and the Czech Republic, the host countries for the intended defense systems, would be targeted in the event of war.