or so people, how would they handle a relatively modern european state of 40 million? they may be able to take kiev, as richard said, but that doesn t mean they ll be able to hold the country without a lot of cost. the question is what is he trying to get out of it right now. we haven t quite figured that out. it s kind of a manufactured crisis. ukraine wasn t about to join nato. nato wasn t about to expand any further. these demands that he s put on the table aren t things that are at issue anyway, even if the west won t accept them because they don t want to tie their hands on a point of principle. that s the big question, what is putin trying to get out of this. i guess the following question would come up, in regards to europe, if we re talking about the united states still, how reliable does europe see our decisionmaking right now, ali? that s a very good question. i mean, after everything that s happened in the united states, after the pullout in afghanistan, europeans don t