Russia

Tragic and unfortunate as the Ukrainian situation is, the possibility that the United States could get seriously involved is still remote. The Los Angeles Times had an editorial today that invoked the Cold War as a reason on its own for why the U.S. should let these distant countries handle their own problems.

Still, seeing a headline that calls out Russia in general and Putin in particular as the reason Europe is weak can give one pause. It gives a reason, a Problem to be Solved, that might turn out to be convincing: We need to remove dangerous men who are in power!

There aren't any generational or cyclical reasons keeping this from being The Cause of the Peak of the Crisis. If anything they are straightforward political ones involving standard questions of self-interest. Are they threatening us or a close ally? Do we have national interests directly involved? If problems do come up, can we fight - and if we fight will we win? While the Russia & Ukraine crisis fails all three of these basic tests, that might not even matter if an important problem (as above) is identified to be solved.