approach against china s expansion. so the costs of these deals in the long run, aren t they usually pretty devastating against the countries that break international norms? absolutely. it s one of the things that makes a pariah a pariah. look at the countries involved in this sort of stuff. it s china, russia, north korea, iran. that s not exactly a group you would want to be a member of. this is the pariah international, and this is one of the ways they define themselves, and whatever the details of particular exchanges. in the long run, the damage this does to relationships, economic ties, diplomatic ties is enormous, so on something like this, you know, we can argue the details of letting this bad guy out, but does this fundamentally change anything about russia s relationship for the better with the united states, with europe. does it advance russia s goals with ukraine? absolutely not.