"Putin is now embracing a Russian tradition of paranoia … that sees Moscow as both a savior of other nations and a victim of great conspiracies, in which Russia is both strong enough to be feared and weak enough to be threatened," writes @RadioFreeTom. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
"This specific form of meddling in sovereign nations, too, is a Soviet tradition, as the Poles and others would remind us.
"His claim to these areas—for they will be Russian satrapies, and not “independent” in any meaningful way—is a claim to be the ultimate arbiter of former Soviet borders, including those now within NATO.
"Literally within minutes of completing his television address, Putin sent “peacekeepers” into eastern Ukraine.
"His likely next move will be to stage some sort of incident in which he claims (as he did in Georgia in his war there) that the Ukrainians are the aggressors, and that Russia is acting only in defense of ethnic Russians.
"Putin has now affirmed that he refuses to accept the outcome of the Cold War and that he will fight to dismantle the European system of peace and security constructed by the international community after its end.
"This is Vladimir Putin’s forever war, and Russia, cursed as it has been so many times in its history with a terrible leader, will be fighting it for as long as Putin remains the master of the Kremlin".
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