A Tale of Missing Obvious Clues About Russia

(Image by Bob Gorrell)

Sometime last week, Russia got booted out of the G-8, forcing this international cabal of the top industrial nations to make pen & ink changes on their office plaques and business cards.

Despite these feeble actions Soviet Russian troops are still occupying the Crimea, while even more military might remains poised along the Ukrainian border. 

Sultan Knish eloquently explains why real, hard power trumps cool, soft power in this Tale of Two Centuries. 

Meanwhile, In From the Cold gives us a warm-up exercise on what our intel analysts missed--despite detecting the bear bare-chested czar's troop movements.

The on-going Ukrainian Crisis is just one act in the Post American World play.  Once again, Sultan Knish warns the civilized world faces an impending darkness if it fails to get it's collective act together.