I am troubled because it may represent a change in how Russia's leaders sees the former Soviet republics. Russia before the invasion of Georgia may have been the low tide of post-Soviet Russia, angry at their loss of empire but unwilling to do anything about it. And with the invasion, we may be at the starting point of a new Russia built on picking up as much of their loss lands as possible.
I wondered who would be brought back into the empire.
I've had my suspicions. I think we have our definitive answer:
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday said further economic preferences for Belarus would depend on the degree of political integration between the two countries in a union state.
Ah, the anschluss of our age.
