Next Up?

After Commonwealth Russia's seemingly leader for life is all done re hooking Ukrainia back into Russia, reckon where all he'll head next?

Who can say?

Vlad positions contemporary Russia as the heir to the Russian Empire as it was constituted under the czars.

He sees lands that are rightfully Russian, lands that can be claimed by Western European countries, and then maybe they can discuss what to do with the rest.

And if Europe does not want to take part in the carving, Russia will act alone. Eastern Ukraine may come to resemble Transnistria, which is formally a part of Moldova but is ruled by a separatist pro-Moscow government, or South Ossetia, which unilaterally seceded from Georgia with Moscow’s aid in 2008, or Crimea, which was simply taken. Indeed, Russia has developed an entire repertoire of annexations.

And what happens after Ukraine? There are other countries that were once conquered by the czars and later lost. After all, who says Finland has a right to exist?

Pic - “The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin.”