From Max Fisher:
…There’s more behind this confusion than just careful diplomacy. Russian President Vladimir Putin learned a crucial lesson from Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad last year, when the latter got away with using chemical weapons against his own people.
That lesson is this: the Western world can set all the red lines it wants — don’t use chemical weapons, don’t invade sovereign countries — but if you cross that red line just a little bit at a time, inching across over weeks and months, rather than crossing it all at once, then Western publics and politicians will get red-line fatigue and lose interest by the time you’re across.
Read more at Let's be clear about this: Russia is invading Ukraine right now – Vox.
“…Russia has managed to invade a sovereign European country, in the year 2014, without sparking any larger war or the credible threat of any substantial response beyond sanctions.”
My, oh my…how awful. And that telltale picture of a bombed out residential building in rebel-held Ukraine. Putin is a terrible man to be doing these things in 2014. Doesn’t he know this year is reserved for Western bombing of Iraq, Syria, Libya and Palestine? Oops, I forgot. Two wrongs don’t make a right. In any case, these are not European countries, so they don’t really count.