y encourage a new anti-Russian government in Kiev that ended up eliminating Russian as a second language and replacing pro-Russian governors in the Eastern Ukraine and Crimea? Could Obama, if less intent on dissing Putin, have engineered a compromise during that fateful weekend that would have prevented Russi

d selective violence in the proxy-proclaimed EFTA00718101 People's Republic of Donetsk, where Putin's "maskirovka" (disguised warfare) has turned Eastern Ukraine into a no-man's land where Kiev hardly dares tread. As for Obama's vaunted economic sanctions, when he finally got around to applying Round 2 on M

teps up its anti- terrorist operations in the east. As the May 25 election approaches, the window of opportunity for Putin to justify an invasion of Eastern Ukraine is closing: It will carry too high a political cost to justify invading a country with an elected president as opposed to the current "junta" in Ki

eached Moscow. For example, there were indications that the NSA had lost part of its capabilities to follow Russian troop movements in the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. U.S. intelligence officials even went so far as to suggest, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal that “ Russian planners might have gott