It's Monday, June 1st, 2006.

I'm Albert Moller, and this is the briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.

Well, you have to say the history was made last Friday when a Russian drone hit an apartment building in Romania.

Just to state the obvious, it was not an

accident. Just to state another obvious fact, it wasn't intended to be understood as an accident.

It was a clear signal of provocation coming from Russia. Now, of course, Russia has been at war now

for years with Ukraine because Russia invaded Ukraine. And Ukraine has proved itself to be

remarkably resourceful and courageous in fighting back against the Russian invasion. Frankly, we have

some of the old rules of military theory being very much rewritten right before our eyes.

And yet, at the same time, there have been many provocations towards the West in general coming from Russia.

And in particular, challenges towards NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Let's just remind ourselves that that organization, NATO, as we knew, it came out of the smoldering ruins of the Second World War in an effort to unite the Allies, in particular in a common defense pact,

but also because of the rise of the threat of the Soviet Union and what would become the Cold War,

it became an absolutely crucial alliance in terms of defending Western democracy,

over against what were open declarations of Soviet expansionism.

And remember that when you're looking at the picture in Europe after World War II, you are looking at a very bitter rivalry

between the East and the West, and you had the Soviet Union putting up what can only be

described as puppet governments of a client state in so many cases. You had repression. The

differences, of course, were made starkly

evident to the entire world in the distinction between East Germany and West Germany during the

decades that they were divided. East Germany under a communist government and to one degree or another,

under rather overt Soviet influence, if not direct control.

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