rele eurasian affairs. i d like to pull up a picture that i think really speaks volumes as to the situation right now and putin solo today commemorating the siege on leni leningrad. there he is by himself. and it does lead to the question of, what is he thinking and why haven t we heard from him in the past month on this issue in particular? i don t think we know what he s thinking, and i think that s why even president biden said, it s like reading the tea leaves and this is just very different than other leaders and particularly others in the u.s. government like secretary blinken dealing with russian foreign minister lavrov who may not even know what putin is thinking. it s hard to know whether he s looking for an off-ramp here. united states and nato are willing to have a conversation on european security issues but if what he really wants is to overthrow the government in