The old agreement was too loose:
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday the final pieces were in place for the 2015 launch of an economic union with Belarus and Kazakhstan that Moscow hopes can also be joined by Ukraine.
Putin promised following talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko that the so-called Eurasian Economic Union would turn into a new source of growth for all involved.
The alliance would replace a much looser Eurasian Customs Union that Russia formed with the two ex-Soviet nations in an effort to build up a free trade rival to the 28-nation EU bloc.
The new agreement that might be called the Eurasian Union will be tighter still, have no fear.
We'll see if Ukraine gains any protection from the nuclear umbrella that China extended to Kiev.
I remain puzzled that I've heard nothing else about that nuclear development. Perhaps it didn't happen. Perhaps the agreement wasn't translated correctly and it is far less than first reported. Perhaps I over-state the significance of even an accurate report on the agreement (but I don't think so).
But I do know that Ukraine could surely use such a guarantee.
The Russians are coming for the Ukraine. And I don't think they'll stop short at a lesser objective than integration into the
