Russian military and oil

This month's National Geographic has a good article on oil production in Russia. It's the world's largest oil producer. The print version of the article has a striking map of how much Russian oil and natural gas is exported to Europe.

"Why is Moscow risking a new cold war?" at Spiegel.com describes what Russia's military is up to these days:

"A hint of the Cold War has been revived between the East and West, since Russia began sending out its pilots on missions once again, since its aircraft, in a throwback to Soviet days, have reappeared on radar screens in the Western hemisphere, and since they have, on occasion, come within touching distance of the British border and flown over the American aircraft carrier 'Nimitz' and a Japanese island (albeit unpopulated), to which Tokyo responded by dispatching two dozen fighter jets to drive out the intruders. 'Our job is to show that since we are capable of flying this far, we are also capable of carrying weapons to our destination,' says Major General Pavel Androssov, the commander of all strategic aircraft."