Mirror Mirror Quote of the Day

"When President Vladimir Putin of Russia talks about what is happening in Ukraine these days, it is as if he’s looking into a mirror. He says fascists and nationalists are running amok in Kiev, even as Crimea is annexed in the name of Great Russia; he says Russians are threatened in eastern Ukraine, even as Russia directs secessionists there to seize administrative buildings and arms; he calls on President Obama to use his influence to prevent the use of force in Ukraine, even as he puts a major military force on the Ukrainian border." -- editorial in today's New York Times.

With Ukrainian military forces on the move in the eastern part of the country, serious clashes with pro-Russian separatists and covert Russian special forces already in Ukraine are inevitable, creating a pretext for Putin to send troops into Ukraine.  NATO is responding by positioning defensive forces in the Baltic and elsewhere in Eastern Europe as a signal to Russia.  Tense times.