he New York Times characterized this as a "rare diplomatic defeat" for Putin, though I'm not sure why. Indeed, diplomatic defeats appear to be the only thing the Russian president has accomplished lately. As Kevin Drum noted, "Ukraine is more firmly allied to the West than ever. Finland is wondering if it might not be such a bad idea to join NATO after all. The Baltic states, along with just about every other Russian neighbor, are desperate to reinforce their borders ?" and the