The West won't have a chance to demonstrate a backbone with a Debaltseve Airlift.
No, the latest Minsk "ceasefire" was just another means to allow Putin to take territory:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said government forces were completing a "planned and organized" withdrawal from the eastern town of Debaltseve, which has been at the epicenter of fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian militants in recent weeks.
"As of now, we can say that 80 percent of our units have left," Poroshenko said, adding that two more columns were expected to pull out.
Western European leaders protested, as Putin pulled the ceasefire away yet again.
This seems so familiar ...
It's funny how some traditions--like learning from Munich--just slowly fade away.
It seems as if the European powers are only interested in convincing Ukraine to just give up so all this unpleasantness will fade from the headlines and they can go back to minding their own business and quietly cutting defense spending.
To be fair to Putin, the West may actually be the most stupid civilization alive.
UPDATE: This is kind of humorous in a dark sort of way:
A flashpoint strategic town in east Ukraine fell Wednesday to a fierce assault by pro-Russian rebels in a serious defeat for Kiev, prompting the West to accuse Moscow of cynically exploiting an internationally-backed ceasefire.
How impolite of the Russians.
Who could possibly imagine that Putin--who violated the UN Charter and Budapest Memorandum to invade Ukraine in the first place--would violate yet another ceasefire he signed?
UPDATE: Meanwhile, Putin
Georgia condemned on Thursday the signing of a border agreement between its breakaway region of South Ossetia and Russia, accusing Moscow of moving closer to annexing a territory it supported in a five-day conflict in 2008.
If Putin had the military power to do so, he'd take territory far more quickly.
A lot of Europeans (and Europeans-at-heart here) would prefer such quick actions so they can get back to business as usual faster without all those lingering questions about "what are we going to do?"
