Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Until yesterday afternoon, Russia claimed to feel threatened by the US plan to put a radar station in the Czech Republic and a missile silo in Poland to defend the West against evils emanating from the likes of Iran and North Korea. And to the astonishment of the world, Vladimir Putin argued this week that this would leave him with no choice but to retaliate by aiming Russian missiles at European cities for the first time since the end of the Cold War. Shock and awe in Berlin and Brussels.

But yesterday, in a dramatic move, Putin said that if President Bush agrees to relocate the system to Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic on the Caspian Sea that borders Iran, Moscow will holster its threats. A key word there is Iran because if the two powers agree to defend themselves against what might emerge from the theocracy, Teheran is going to find itself more isolated than ever. Which is excellent news, because anything that can move Moscow away from the mullahs is to be greeted.

Putin is a wily fox, of course, so there's more to this than meets the eye. On the face of it, by giving the US access to Azerbaijan, he's allowing Washington to operate in what Russia regards as its backyard. Given his anger at the westward drift of the Ukraine and Georgia, it is more than curious that Putin would offer an opportunity for gum-chewing and cola-drinking defenders of the West to sunbathe on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Another point, the Republic of Azerbaijan is not Vladimir Putin's to dispose of at will. Finally, it is oil rich.