Last week, Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin, commander of the Russian air force, announced that Moscow had deployed a state-of-the-art S-300 (SA-20 Favorit variant) long-range air-defense system in Abkhazia, a region of the Republic of Georgia that Russia has occupied since the August 2008 war.

Since then, Russia has recognized breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent republics. According to Gen. Zelin, the task of the air-defense system is «to prevent violation of Abkhaz and South Ossetian airspace and to destroy any aircraft intruding into their airspace no matter what their purpose might be.» On Saturday, Gen. Zelin announced that the Russian air force had resumed flights from the Abkhazian capital of Sukhumi.

Iraqis, along with the rest of the Muslim world, have ushered in the holy month of Ramadan, hoping it will give their thoughts some refuge from worries about Iraq’s future. The country is still living without a cabinet, and only God knows when it will get one. Meanwhile, the U.S. has started withdrawing combat brigades in keeping with President Barack Obama’s election pledge. All combat troops are expected to be out of Iraq by September 1, while the remainder of U.S. forces are scheduled to leave by the end of 2011.

Yet, few Obama administration officials actually believe that the complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq is realistic in the foreseeable future.

Can Russia escape the «resource curse» implied by high oil prices, or will it succumb to what we call a «70-80» scenario? That is the question confronting Russians today, and we fear that their fate will be the latter: if oil prices remain at $70-80 per barrel, Russia is likely to relive key features of the Brezhnev era of the 1970’s and 1980’s — with a stagnating economy and 70-80% approval ratings for its political leaders.