Have you noticed how the Russians are constantly trying to be “just like the other kids”? Henry Ford built an automobile assembly line – the Russians bought it from him. The Netherlands had its Diary of Anne Frank – The Soviets the diary of a victim of the siege of Leningrad, Tanya Savicheva. The Americans developed the nuclear bomb – the Russians stole it from them. NATO put ballistic missiles in Turkey – Khrushchev put them on Cuba. Samantha Smith visited the Soviet Union at Yuri Andropov’s invitation and created a world media circus – in response the Soviets sent the uninvited but fluent English-speaking Katya Lycheva to the United States. Enron collapsed due to internal improprieties – the Russians labelled the theft of Yukos “the Russian Enron”. George W. Bush destroyed two countries in the name of “fighting terror” – Russia did the same in Chechnya. The West installed peacekeepers in the former Yugoslavia and later recognized Kosovo’s independence – Russian “peacekeepers” invaded a sovereign country and recognized two statelets. The Americans are poking around in Russia’s backyard trying to install missiles in Russia’s traditional sphere of influence – Russia is enthusiastically selling arms to Latin America and establishing a presence on America’s traditional turf.

Now here’s the latest such story, courtesy of the RBK website, which we’ve found is often a useful bellwether of the Kremlin’s thinking.