Over the weekend the Wall Street Journal weekend edition had as its headline, "Putin Calls Obama as Crisis Escalates."   Read the entire article here.

Here is an excerpt:

     Defying Western warnings, Russia has continued to reposition and augment its forces on the border of eastern Ukraine, according to U.S. officials, raising fears of a wider confrontation.
     Russia's Foreign Ministry on Friday dismissed the allegations as invented, saying that Western officials should "take a pain reliever."

Excuse me.  "Take a pain reliever?"  No one.  NO ONE!  would have ever said that to Ronald Reagan.  Ever.  Nor do I think it would have ever been said of George W. Bush.  Certainly, no one would have ever talked to Ronald Reagan like that.  Why?  Because of his personal strength, his stature as a leader, and his courage.  The world knew that Reagan would act militarily if necessary.

On the day of Reagan's inauguration, 52 Americans who had been held hostage for 444 days in Iran were released.  The left is fond of saying that this release had nothing to do with Reagan's inauguration because it was in the works under Jimmy Carter.  Some on the left are quite fond of jumping to conclusions that are not well thought out.  No one knows whether or not the Iranians went ahead with plans for the release because they were afraid of Ronald Reagan coming into office, and the Iranians would certainly never reveal such a fear.  In my mind, there was no doubt.  Ronald Reagan was an unknown commodity and he was widely recognized as a hawk.  If the Iranians were not afraid of what he might do, they certainly should have been.

I might add that Ronald Reagan also brought down the Soviet Union without firing a shot.  Bullies don't pick on the strong.  They pick on the weak.  Ronald Reagan's strength brought a gravitas to U.S. foreign policy that is sadly and conspicuously missing now.

Today's Wall Street Journal headlines..."U.S., Russia Talks Fail to Ease Crisis."  Read the entire article here.  For me, the telling paragraph was this:

     The question of Crimea's future also appeared to be largely drowned out during the diplomacy Sunday.  U.S. officials had only a few weeks ago been demanding Putin reverse his annexation of the territory and pull back his troops.  Mr. Kerry didn't mention Crimea during his remarks-- giving the impression that the U.S. has largely given up reversing the region's absorption into Russia.

It appears that our demand that Putin reverse his annexation was just talk.  A handful of Russian officials got a slap on the wrist-- some passport restrictions to the U.S. and monetary restrictions on U.S. accounts, actions that were mocked on twitter by several of the officials themselves.  Then Russia was kicked out of the G-8, an action Putin said he did not care about.  And Kerry has not not even made the annexation of Crimea part of the negotiations?  Not even part of the discussion?   The Russians are running diplomatic circles around us.  It appears that they got away with the annexation of Crimea.  If they want more territory, why should they stop there?  It's no wonder Russia's Foreign Ministry feels free to mock us.