A Whipped Dog

Josh Marshall notes that Trump's obsequiousness towards Russia has not been reciprocated.  Russia has not taken Trump's "reset" with Russia as an opportunity to engage in something like detente.  Instead, they have continued provocative behavior.  The nerve agent attack in Britain is just one example.

Today in class, we re-read George Kennan's Long Telegraph.  I was struck by how this paragraph from 70 years ago was still relevant:

Soviet power, unlike that of Hitlerite Germany, is neither schematic nor adventurist. It does not work by fixed plans. It does not take unnecessary risks. Impervious to logic of reason, and it is highly sensitive to logic of force. For this reason it can easily withdraw--and usually does when strong resistance is encountered at any point. Thus, if the adversary has sufficient force and makes clear his readiness to use it, he rarely has to do so. If situations are properly handled there need be no prestige-engaging showdowns.

Our duty, and I use that word consciously, is to stop Putin by showing that we will stop Putin.  

It's fine to arrest the assholes from Cambridge Analytica.  But until we hit Putin where it hurts, this is all just show.