An excellent, succinct commentary by Anne Applebaum in the WaPo, a SME on Eastern Europe. SWC have debated the issues and mistakes around the Crimea, Ukraine and other incidents of late. See:http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...73_story.html?

She ends in part with:
Our mistake was not to humiliate Russia but to underrate Russia’s revanchist, revisionist, disruptive potential. If the only real Western achievement of the past quarter-century is now under threat, that’s because we have failed to ensure that NATO continues to do in Europe what it was always meant to do: deter. Deterrence is not an aggressive policy; it is a defensive policy. But in order to work, deterrence has to be real.
Some think we are in a new 'Cold War', others that Russia has outplayed the West. Personally I think the new NATO members face a bleak prospect as winter arrives.