| Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to pull out of an important arms-control treaty last Thursday, on the same day that NATO started its two day informal Foreign Minister meeting. During the meeting, held in Oslo, April 26-27th, Foreign Ministers from the NATO countries met to discuss the future role of NATO, such as NATO’s role in Afghanistan and Kosovo, and NATO enlargement. Putin’s threat came as a response to the planned deployment of American anti-missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic. While the Russians have voiced sharp criticism of such a plan, seeing it as a violation of NATO’s commitment not to establish bases on former Russian territory, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed any criticism at the meeting in Oslo, calling it “purely ludicrous” that “a few radars in Eastern Europe are going to threaten the Soviet strategic deterrent”. At an interview with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, she said that “It’s very hard to imagine a return to the Cold War. We’ve had one Cold War, that’s plenty; we don’t need to do that again.” Although some Foreign Ministers, including Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, expressed skepticism to the plan, the ministers concluded that the missile defenses would not disrupt the strategic balance of power between the West and Russia. But it also recognized a need to engage in further talk with the Russians, at the NATO-Russia Council that same evening, to avoid any further escalation of the conflict. | 
