Russia's War Against Ukraine
OP-ED
Michael Weiss: Putin’s new clothes
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) speaks to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during his meeting with Russian State Duma deputies in Mria hotel in Yalta on August 14, 2014. Vladimir Putin arrived in Crimea to deliver his speech to deputies of the State Duma and Russian Government and to discuss with local authorities future development of Crimea inside Russia. AFP PHOTO / RIA NOVOSTI / KREMLIN POOL / ALEXAI NIKOLSKY
On the night of Aug. 14, the Telegraph's Roland Oliphant and theGuardian's Shaun Walker both witnessed, as the latter put it, "a column of [armored personnel carriers] and vehicles with official Russian military plates cross border into Ukraine." It's not that this was anything out of the ordinary: Russia has been moving all manner of materiel into Ukraine for weeks, as The Interpreter has documented, all under the watchful gaze of U.S. and NATO satellites -- thereby establishing a new normalcy for what does and does not constitute foreign aggression in a neighboring country.
