HOPE AND CHANGE: U.S. to Get the Boot from Central Asia Base? “Stunning news from Moscow: Russian news agencies are reporting that the government of Kyrgyzstan will close Manas Air Base, a vital conduit for U.S. troops in Afghanistan.” I thought once Obama was President everyone was going to like us.

UPDATE: Reader Jeff Weimer emails: “I was told that if I voted for McCain, our ability to work with other nations to achieve our goals would falter. They were right!”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ouch: “The Russians are managing to screw us in Afghanistan as badly as we screwed them 20 years ago.”

MORE: From Bob Krumm, an “I told you so.”

And is this a Russian about-face? “It certainly appears that they’re twisting the screws and testing President Obama.”

It’s also possible that there’s more to this story than we’ve gotten so far, and that it’s not as bad as it looks. I certainly hope so, and I imagine President Obama does, too.