One notices that the nuclear rhetoric from the Kremlin increases every time it hears noises from the West that threatens its messaging and world view. The diplomatic response to Putin should really be "is this the only song you know?"

The current situation also lays bare how naïve the Biden Administration's "slow roll" of assistance to Ukraine really was - half measure upon half measure to hold the line, but not affect a positive outcome, with the assumption that bipartisan support would continue indefinitely. And now we are in a place where we may be abandoning a fledgling democracy in Eastern Europe. I hope I am wrong, but history is likely to show the West will only find itself in a bigger horror for its lack of real commitment to stopping Putin.