AS ANY fan of action movies knows, the best way to keep a madman from executing a dastardly plan is to keep him talking. The distraction buys time to save the hostage or defuse the bomb. With luck, you might persuade the villain that violence is against his own interests. This, more or less, is the approach adopted by some European countries towards Russia. Vladimir Putin appears to have lost any interest he once had in a rapprochement with the West, and in the east of Ukraine the bullets still fly. But, the thinking runs, an isolated Russia could turn …read more
Source: The Economist
