Russia's War Against Ukraine
OP-ED
Mikheil Saakashvili: War is coming
Pro-Russian supporters hold Russian flags during a rally in the center of the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on April 5, 2014. Europe issued fresh calls Saturday for dialogue with Russia over Ukraine, warning Moscow it faces having a failed state in its backyard just as it tightens the economic noose on Kiev. AFP PHOTO/ ALEXANDER KHUDOTEPLY
In early March, the Russian Federation, after staging a referendum under Kalashnikovs in Crimea, proceeded to annex the region and laid the groundwork -- according to Moscow -- for "new political-legal realities," that is to say, a new Russian paradigm for a lawless world. As German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her speech to the Bundestag on March 13, Russia is bringing the law of the jungle to the table. For those of us who have lived through Vladimir Putin's attempts to reverse the results of what he calls "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century -- the dissolution of the Soviet Union -- what is happening in Ukraine is not unexpected. Nor does it mark the last act of the drama.
