Its president is elected. Today's Russia is not our enemy, but a country in transition with an opportunity to emerge as a great nation, democratic, at peace with itself and its neighbours. The Iron Curtain no longer exists. Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic are free nations and they are now our allies in Nato, together with a reunited Germany. Yet, this is still a dangerous world, a less certain, a less predictable one.
More nations have nuclear weapons and still more have nuclear aspirations.
Many have chemical and biological weapons. Some already have developed a ballistic missile technology that would allow them to deliver weapons of mass destruction at long distances and incredible speeds, and a number of these countries are spreading these technologies around the world. Most troubling of all, the list of these countries includes some of the world's least-responsible states. Enemies' When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, the world joined forces to turn him back. But the international community would have faced a very different situation had Hussein been able to blackmail with nuclear weapons.