Russian Satellite Collision a Military Strike?

Thursday's collision between Russia's Cosmos-2251 military satellite (picture on right from Gunter's space page) and the commercial Iridium 33 satellite owned and operated by a US company seems quite suspicous.

What's really going on up there?

Is this test a way for the Russians to demonstrate that they too have the power to destroy an enemy's space-based assets?

Consider for a moment the following facts:

• In 2007 China demonstrated its ability to shoot down one of its old weather satellites (see Military.com)
• In 2008, the United States demonstrated its anti-satellite capability in by shooting down a satellite, apparently due to its toxic propellant
• The Cosmos-2251 satellite, launched in 1993, was one of the last Strela-2M class of miliary store-and-dump satellites (see also Gunter's space page).
• The Iridium satellite communications systems has been extensively used by the US military, see SpaceDaily and this photo from the Iridium website.

The Strela-2M series of satellites appears to provide the Russian military with a similar capability as the Iridium system provides the American military - a global communication system for ground-based elements employing small radio systems. This is no doubt a critical capability for any nation that wants to exert power on the global stage.

Such a trend for nations to demonstrate their new anti-satellite capability is reminiscent of the ever growing club of nations that has conducted nuclear weapons, starting arond the middle of last century and contining still today?

But credit to the Russians for using cost-effective methods.. Using an old military satellite to take out an enemy's space asset is surely far cheaper than the anti-satellite missile systems being developed by the USA and China.