Maybe I'll find the fortitude to take it in later. But I do want to say this. If Putin is playing the game of Let's Destabilize Other Countries to Serve Our Needs, (which the US has done as well), then it seems like the destabilization has crept back over his own borders.

This does not surprise me. People, leaders, countries and regimes that operate under the principle of tearing things down to benefit themselves rather than working in common cause to build things up are almost always hoist on their own petard. . . ss. (Not sure if that needs to be pluralized.)