it doesn t look like it, again, moving, if you will, from chess to playing poker and high stakes, high gambling to get the west to back off. maybe put some fractures in nato and the west which is a surprise, it s held together. they have to challenge. they may have pushed themselves into a diplomatic cul-de-sac and what s most dangerous is do they back off? and the world would breathe a sigh of relief. they should be happy with that. or do they double down and go in and some blinkered way seeing it as a sign if they back off without getting major concessions. and it s interesting because certainly part of what russia wants to do here, a.m. though we cannot read vladimir putin s mind is that fracture between