In 1240, Mongol forces under Batu Khan sacked Kiev and killed pretty much everybody in the city.  Why?  Because he could.  Like all his Mongol counterparts, Batu was a snarky dick.  He regularly taunted other rulers with how powerless they were to resist him.  Said Batu to Bela, King of Hungry, “you dwell in houses and have fixed towns and fortresses, so how will you escape me”.

This is what I think of given the last two days.  Love or hate Uncle Vladimir, in foreign affairs at least, he is a master.  He knows how to play the game and against him just about every Western diplomat comes off as a rank amateur.

Yesterday, Secretary Kerry made it a point to “warn” Russia about military intervention in Ukraine.  You could almost hear Vladimir blurt at the television, “What are you going to do about it, pig?”  And then this morning Russian marines took over a pair of airports.  Why did Vladimir do this?  Because he can.

As this blog previously discussed, the differences in will between Russia and the West are glaring.  If I was a Ukrainian revolutionary, I’d change my tune.

This one marine is more decisive to the outcome than every diplomat in the West combined.