Chess Moves

The Rooskies are making some moves in Central Asia, placing President Hopey in an interesting position.

First, Islamic "militants" have destroyed a bridge in the Khyber Pass leading into Afghanistan from Pakistan. About 75% of all military supplies for the war effort in Afghanistan goes through Pakistan in one way or another.

Suspected militants blew up a bridge in northwestern Pakistan's Khyber Pass on Tuesday, cutting the main route for supplies bound for Western forces in Afghanistan, Pakistani government officials said.

Separately, a military spokesman said security forces killed at least 35 Taliban insurgents and wounded many more in an attack on Monday night in the Swat Valley, northeast of the Kyber Pass.

Militants in northwestern Pakistan stepped up attacks on the road through the Khyber Pass, a crucial route into land-locked Afghanistan, last year in an attempt to deprive international forces fighting the Taliban of supplies trucked in from Pakistan.

[...] Guards are usually posted on heights above bridges but it was not clear why they had been unable to stop the attack.

Gee I wonder why. Hopey better bone up on this the next time he steps outside the Oval Office(yeah right) for a smoke: the Pakistanis are not our friends. In fact, most of the crazy bastards between the Mediterrean Sea and the Pacific Ocean would dance in the streets again if the US got slammed by another terrorist attack.

And then right after the Bridge Over The Khyber gets Kayo'd, the President of Whatzatistan closes a crucial American airbase in his country:

MOSCOW — In a setback to the escalating U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan, the president of Kyrgyzstan said Tuesday that his government will shut down the American air base in his country.

U.S. officials say that the Manas Air Base is vital to plans to send an additional 30,000 American troops to Afghanistan, a linchpin of President Barack Obama's efforts to pacify the country.

And it only cost the Rooskies $2.33 billion to pull this off.
That's about one quarter of one percent of the $890 billion stimulus package being argued in the Senate right now. Putin got himself a bargain basement price for possibly derailing American military plans in Central Asia.

Okay Hopey, your move.