Putin asked for trouble. West says OK.

Finland takes the lead

Over the years, the Kremlin has perfected the art of breaking Western laws, refusing responsibility, shifting blame, and threatening anyone who dares respond. Russia got away with behaving like a mob because it operated as a single entity, while the West was a fragmented collection of nations.

When KGB agents used nerve agents to kill people on British soil, France chose not to intervene. When Russia’s propaganda machine smeared French President Macron’s wife, the Netherlands stayed silent. When Moldova and other smaller Eastern European nations were bullied by the Kremlin’s gas company, Gazprom, Germany refused to act.

Putin has turned picking off soft Western targets into an art form.