We are beset by groundhogs. They are evil, vile creatures. And they are tenacious devils.

We've killed four so far, with a combination of air rifles. Now we have two more, the biggest ones yet. Darwin's theory must apply to varmints with extra fervor.

Given that we live among other houses, in a development with a number of rules, simply taking out the trusty Remington .22-caliber rifle isn't an option. We added a Havahart trap to the arsenal over the weekend, model # 1092. So far, the groundhogs have managed to steal the bait without setting off the trap, sometimes even lifting it up to get at the tasty cantaloupe bits.

Eight-year-old daughter Sophie was philosophical. "These groundhogs are clever," she told me the other day. Yes, they are; thank you.

She continued: "I believe these are the cleverest yet."

That's great, just great. The cleverest yet.

***

The Russian tanks in Georgia have stopped firing, but they don't seem to be retreating. Russia's actions since the beginning of its assault seem bent on bringing the country – yes, that's a sovereign country – to heel. Friends, while the guns may be silent now, we are about to see how difficult the next 10 to 15 years are going to be.

We ought to already know that we've lived a good chunk of the past two decades in a daze of high living, fast mortgages and big cars. What we will come to realize is that meanwhile, Russia has rearmed, rebuilt and is now prepared to dominate the sections of the world economy that rely on commodities.

For Russia, this is what the corporate trainers would call a win-win. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline moves some 1.2 million barrels of oil a day from Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean. Do any of us doubt that Russia wants control of the pipeline, much as it wants control of the oil and gas drilling on its other projects?

The thing that Europeans, especially, don't seem to grasp is that as time goes on, an increasing number of energy transactions are going to be done by Russian rules. For decades, U.S. rules of commerce held sway. In Texas, if you pledged to deliver a certain amount of oil at a certain time, you did so, even if it was at a loss.

The Russians, we will soon learn, place less value in contracts and less value on the rule of law – and more value in raw power and the point of a gun. Raw power in energy will be when a natural gas pipeline that brings supplies to Western Europe shuts down in the middle of winter, until the supply contract is "renegotiated."

The bigger point is equally disturbing. Russia intends to dominate what it calls its "near abroad." Do we not read history any more? Does the experience of countries like Hungary and Czechoslovakia not register with us?

Apparently not. I think the evidence is clear that we pretty much squandered that so-called peace dividend. The Russians, stoked by resentment, ready cash and a huge supply of commodities, are back.

The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of any one else associated with PoconoNews.Net or Statewide News Network, Inc.

Persons with opposing views are encouraged to send them to Opinion