U.S. President Barack Obama visited Brussels, Belgium and recommitted to the NATO alliance. According to the NY Times President Obama sent fighter jets to Lithuania and Poland, in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine. President Obama's speech addressed and countered Mr. Putin's justifications for seizing Crimea.
It seems that the U.S. and Europe may be overreacting to Russia's actions in Crimea, though Russia has been tactless in taking such actions immediately after it hosted the Winter Olympics, and responding this way to the ouster of the former and corrupt Ukrainian President. Nonetheless the U.S. and European countries appear to be leveraging the situation to increase their influence in Ukraine and that Eurasian region, and to knock down Russia and its oligarchs.
It is disturbing that President Putin has been in power for as long as he has in Russia, since 1999, now for going on 15 years. Russia should change its Constitution so it does not allow the same person to serve as both Prime Minister and President. Putin's excessively long stay in power, 7 more years than a twice-elected American president, is more echoes of the old Soviet Union, and may be part of the current issue in this Ukraine crisis that the U.S. and Europe have not talked much about.
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