Outside the Beltway

Vladimir Putin is banning commodity exports.

It’s hard to see how this crisis ends.

Putin’s war of choice has created a humanitarian nightmare.

Actions deemed unthinkable days earlier are suddenly mandatory.

A remarkable display of blaming the victim (by the victimizer).

One can see the faintest hint of a backbone in the former Vice President.

The plans to replicate the chaos in the Great White North are not coming together.

Putin is a monster, but he may also be just as irrational as the rest of us.

The ferocity of the global reaction to Putin’s invasion is stunning.

The Russian leader is isolated and under tremendous pressure.

Most people liked it more than I did.

The American President is once again leading the free world.

It might feel good but it has zero impact on Putin.

Pundits like Thomas Friedman struggle with premature prognostication.

Links and infographics.

Addressing an analytical pet peeve (and, more importantly, correcting a mistake).

NATO has stepped up in a pleasantly surprising way to resist the Ukraine invasion.

News and commentary of note.

Some of his numbers are worse than even Donald Trump’s.

Sanctions are already taking a toll. But the West could do more if it had the will.

Deterring Russia is a matter of principle.

The military threat is smaller, but the political one is bigger.

Putin’s forces are in Kyiv.

The first shoe has dropped.

The much-anticipated escalation has happened. Now to see how the United States and its allies respond.

Western intelligence agencies continue to predict an invasion under absurd pretexts.

How do we know when our government is telling us the truth?

The Biden administration is close to repairing the damage Trump caused.

There’s no keeping politics out of these Games.

But from what? Comparing two stories from Tennessee that show our society’s contradictory impulses when it comes to “protecting the children.”

The 46th President will follow the lead of the 40th in making a historic appointment.

Expert opinion on the standoff differs sharply.

The United States and its NATO allies are in a dangerous standoff.

A necessary but likely irrelevant gesture.

A roundup of reflection on a somber anniversary.

Misc. stories for your enjoyment.

Modern and Pfizer are your best bets, but most of the world has had other vaccines.

Kids are getting caught in the crossfire of the fight over COVID shots.

Russia’s leader sees the situation in the former Soviet Republic quite differently than the West.

Russia may invade Ukraine again. The United States would prefer otherwise.

Every now and again, it’s not Mitch McConnell’s fault.

A depressing magazine piece argues it is.

The Politician’s Syllogism rears its ugly head.

American cheese will henceforth be known as liberté cheese. And not because of the metric system.

A follow-up to yesterday’s analysis.

The Islamic Republic is very close to being able to fuel a single weapon.

A departure from the Internet-era tradition.