Taking Putin's ideas seriously (and I guess literally, too)

The long tradition of Russian nationalist denial that Ukraine is real

Hey folks! I’m going to be in NYC on Thursday and wanted to invite you all to a low-key Slow Boring hangout at Bull McCabe’s on Saint Mark’s Place. Nothing formal or fancy, just show up and have a drink or two and chat and meet some folks. I’m gonna get there at 5 p.m. and hang out for a few hours. So to repeat:

Bull McCabe’s, 29 St Mark’s Place, 5 p.m., Thursday, March 10.

Come say hi! Now on to the post.

What is Vladimir Putin doing? A lot of people have answers.

One line of thought (prominently associated with John Mearsheimer) is that Russia’s approach to Ukraine is grounded in more-or-less rational security concerns about NATO expansion. I was initially inclined to agree with Mearsheimer. As I said back on March 1, expanding NATO never struck me as a very good idea. I was not a big fan of the decision to get aggressively involved in the Euromaidan protests and favored a relatively conciliatory response to Russia’s seizure of Crimea and meddling in the Donbas region. But Mearsheime…