NEW YORK TIMES: … European Union leaders “don’t know how to deal with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. They can’t deal with him: They are 28 and he is one,” said Amanda Paul of the European Policy Center, a Brussels-based research body. “They don’t have a response to Russia other than words and phrases. Frankly, I doubt Mr. Putin cares at all whether he gets dinner or not. He has his own chef.”
But Mr. Putin’s own hand is now looking considerably weaker than it did just a few days ago. After seizing the initiative in Ukraine by prodding President Viktor F. Yanukovych to spurn a far-reaching trade and political agreement with Europe in November, the Russian president risks being caught wrong-footed by the rush of events, said Michael Emerson, the bloc’s former envoy in Moscow.
“This is a crucial moment,” Mr. Emerson said. “A few weeks ago it looked as if Putin was winning. Now Putin is losing. This should be the setting for a thorough rethink by both parties, particularly Russia.” He added that Russia needs to show that “all its talk about a ‘common European house’ from Lisbon to Vladivostok is not just a slogan and that Ukraine can be comfortable with both the E.U. and Russia.”… (more)
