

So, President Bush signed protocols yesterday that pave the way for Albania and Croatia to join NATO. You can relax now, America – Tirana's got your back.

But the real subtext for this ceremony is the current Cold War Lite with Russia. In a statement, Bush made a plug for bringing former Soviet Republics like Ukraine and Georgia into the fold:

Today I reiterate America's commitment to the NATO aspirations of Ukraine,

Georgia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Montenegro. The door to NATO membership also remains open to the people of Serbia, should they choose that path.

All these nations treasure the blessings of liberty because they remember the pain of tyranny. And they share NATO's solemn commitment to defend the free against the unfree, and the weak against the strong.

Now there's a statement to tweak the Kremlin. The Russians have staunchly opposed Georgian and Ukrainian aspirations to join NATO. And it's important to remember here that things have not exactly cooled off in the post-Soviet space since Russia rolled into Georgia in August to prop up secessionists in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

In recent days, fighting has flared up along the de facto border of Abkhazia; European Union ceasefire monitors are still negotiating access to South Ossetia. And the Russians still seem intent on stirring the pot in Ukraine. Over the weekend, the New York Times profiled the man to watch: Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov. The boss of Moscow (whose wife, by sheer coincidence, is the city's top construction magnate) has emerged as a sort of unofficial emissary to pro-Moscow separatists throughout Russia's "near abroad."

[PHOTO: U.S. Army]