Obama promised to do much more to strengthen Georgia and other former Soviet republics, as well as the East European states. “The resurgence of Russia is one of the central issues that we’re going to have to deal with in the next presidency.... We’ve got to provide moral support to the Poles and Estonia and Latvia and all of the nations that were former Soviet satellites. But we’ve also got to provide them with financial and concrete assistance to help rebuild their economies.”

Asked if they saw Putin’s Russia as an “evil empire” much like former President Ronald Reagan’s description of the Soviet Union. Obama was compelled go along with the idea while putting in a weak caveat. “I think they’ve engaged in an evil behavior and I think that it is important that we understand they’re not the old Soviet Union but they still have nationalist impulses that I think are very dangerous.”

McCain, whose dislike of Russia is no secret, chose to be careful and gave a one-word answer — “Maybe”. Asked to expand, McCain said, “Depends on how we respond to Russia and it depends on a lot of things. If I say yes, then that means that we’re reigniting the old Cold War. If I say no, it ignores their behaviour.”

The writer is a Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

iscrmohan@ntu.edu.sg