The verdict is in. We have a new President, a new Congress, and a new chapter in American political life. Hopes are high in some quarters, despairing in others. It remains to be seen how President-elect Barack Obama will impact the long-term state of international relations, but for the time being, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela remain active agents of mischief...and worse.

Iran continues to bear bad tidings. Even as Obama purports to represent a chance for diplomacy, radical Islamists are not happy about the change. On the eve of the U.S. elections, thousands of Iranians burned American flags and chanted anti-U.S. and anti-Israel slogans at a demonstration marking the 29^th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy. Fliers calling for young people to sign up for Hezbollah suicide attacks against the U.S. have also been re-distributed throughout Tehran this week.

While Iranian officials have implied a preference for Obama over Sen. John McCain for president, other analysts say that Ahmadinejad is not pleased with the Obama victory.

"A credible U.S. president who wants to talk to Iran - instead of singing songs about bombing it - is not in the interest of Iranian conservatives. Calling the U.S. a warmonger is one of the few battle cries they have left," an Israeli analyst wrote on Tuesday.

Indeed, no olive branch has yet been extended to President-elect Obama. Instead, Iranian military officials announced on Wednesday that any U.S. violation of Iranian air space would be met with force. U.S. Army helicopters had been observed flying a short distance from the Iran-Iraq border, sparking fears that U.S. commandos might stage an operation inside Iran like the recent U.S. raid from Iraq into Syria.

Ahmadinejad also suffered a humiliating setback on Tuesday when the country's parliament impeached Interior Minister Ali Kordan for fabricating a degree from Oxford University. It was the first high-profile confrontation between the new parliament and Ahmadinejad and seen as a no-confidence vote in the president.

Meanwhile, Russia and Venezuela continue to cooperate, with a Russian floating platform poised to start drilling deep test wells tomorrow to prospect natural gas fields in the Gulf of Venezuela. The Venezuelan air force chief also announced that Venezuela and Russia will conduct joint air force exercises in 2009.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in mid-August that the Bush administration was unhappy with flights by Russian strategic bombers near US borders and accused Moscow of playing a 'dangerous game'.

However, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denied any American antagonism as being the cause behind military cooperation between the two countries.

"I do not know how such conclusions are drawn. Neither Russia nor Venezuela has any plans to attack anyone. Russia and Venezuela enjoy cooperation based on the norms of the international law," Lavrov said.