Things really couldn't have gone any worse for Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine and it's no wonder that he has resorted to hiring food tasters to prevent an assassination. He has made a lot of powerful Russians very unhappy and is about to drive the Russian economy over a cliff. He misjudged the situation badly and has backed himself into a corner from which there is no easy or face-saving escape. Let us count the ways. 1. NATO revitalized. As we have written befor

We have written about the world's mountain of plastic waste before and researchers continue to document the harm it does to the environment. Illuminate: "Plastic waste is everywhere on our planet now, from the deepest parts of our oceans to the tops of the highest mountains on earth. We are literally drowning in the stuff. It's polluting our oceans and rivers, filling our landfills and spoiling our beaches, and it's responsible for killing over 1 million marine animals each y

Donald Trump considered withdrawing from NATO if he won in 2020. To him such alliances are simply expensive relics of the cold war, and he demonstrated no ability to work in concert with our allies on the Iran nuclear deal or anything else while in office. Independent.UK: "Donald Trump was considering pulling out of Nato and cutting the US’s alliance with South Korea if he won the 2020 election, according to an account of his private meetings with top aides." That decision wo

Vladimir Putin is just another of history's narcissistic madmen willing to spill the blood of his countrymen in order to retain absolute power. Ukraine poses no threat to Russia except as an example of what a free, modern, western democracy can achieve. The former US Ambassador to Russia, Alexander Vershbow, made the point this week in an article for the Atlantic Council. The Atlantic Council: "This crisis was entirely fabricated by Russian President Vladimir Putin; there is

After years of trying to undermine unity in NATO and the European Union [EU], Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to have inadvertently bolstered both at a time when they were struggling to remain relevant. Putin may have believed that his threats to invade Ukraine would divide the EU and prove that NATO was nothing more than a paper tiger, unable or unwilling to coalesce around a strategy to oppose Russian aggression. Instead, however, it's reminded Europe why they need N

Vladimir Putin has massed more than 100,000 troops on Ukraine's eastern border, threatening an invasion unless his demands are met, including a promise that Ukraine never join NATO. Some analysts see Putin's gambit as a show of Russia's increased military strength and determination to again hold sway in Eastern Europe. That's just part of the story. Putin's actions also demonstrate Russia's weakness relative to his European Union neighbors. Here's what's happening in Ukraine