Miami Beach to Be Ground Zero in Cold War 2.0?

Image from Archie McPhee via Buuuuurrrrning Hot

The Cold War may have ended in the early '90s, but the relationship between Washington and Moscow remains strained. Russia's recent invasion of Georgia only made things worse. It's not quite another Cold War, but -- fittingly -- acolytes of Richard Nixon have a novel idea of how to get us there:

Poke around in local money laundering and the Miami mansions of the Russian elite.

Or maybe not.

Dimitri Simes of Washington think tank The Nixon Center made this suggestion to The Washington Times:

"If Interpol were to look at accounts and properties of Russian officials, such as mansions in Miami Beach, or brownstones in Kensington, the Russian ruling group would take it personally and there would be retaliation against European and U.S. investment and business people in Russia."

Basically no one knows how to deal with this. And with a few months before the whole gang retires to Crawford, Bush and Condi don't really care. But don't be surprised if your rich neighbors, Piotr and Svetlana, put their home on the market soon.

-- Kyle Munzenrieder