they are create ing this cou give a pretext for russia to come and defend russian citizens and russian speakers. absolutely, yes, this is the whole flashpoint we should all watch. the west, of course, as we all know, was caught napping when russia an necked crimea. i was there when that happened. do you think mr. putin has been caught a little off guard by the strength of the west s response and resolve this time? you are right to describe, that in 2014, everybody were disturbed, confused by putin s implausible denial that he s not involved. this is different. we have reports shared publicly, exposing the nature of russian plans to subjugate ukraine. this time the west is saying, with rather united voice, that ukraine matters for european security, that it s not some kind of squabble in russia s