Mr. Will...................you may claim as you wish, and post here any such grandiose tales about yourself that you may think elevates you to some lofty position, and it won't matter. You're an unknown, nobody, hear? Mr. Mearsheimer on the other hand, is a well known, respected, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who's credentials are in fact indisputable. So we will establish that fact first. He is a voice for "realism" as opposed to, well, the opposite. Never mind that in your infantile opinion, its short.
What Mr. Mearsheimer points out is that while the US was playing "realpolitik" in Ukraine, Mr. Putin too is a man of political realism. And as such, the US is now recuperating from its bruises and abrasions over its failed attempts in Kiev. Mr. Putin, as pointed out by Mr. Mearsheimer, is under no delusion about US/EU ambitions with regards to Ukraine. And because of that, has drawn his own, non-symbolic red line. In fact, Mr. Putin has been making speeches for years now about the failure of the US/NATO obligation to agreements made during the Bush 41 administration, not to expand NATO any farther east, and has in fact violated that aggreement 11 or 13 times, depending.
Putin moved, as pointed out by Mr. Mearsheimer, quickly, and deliberately, absent the cumbersome bureaucracy of the EU, leaving the EU reeling in the wake, and wondering what their response should be. As pointed out by Mr. Mearsheimer, Angela Merkel has a long time relationship with Mr. Putin, since his days as a KGB agent in East Germany, and she has no delusions about the man, and as such is the most deliberate actor in the EU right now with regard to the Ukraine "crisis". So............
When you make fun of me, you're making fun of Mr. Mearsheimer, who is far more in control of the facts about Ukraine, then you might ever be. And your steadfast denial of a US backed coup, hasn't even come to Mr. Putin's attention, let alone concern. And, you are in the camp with the rest of the nut balls who are making the ridiculous comparisons of Mr. Putins response to US/EU intrigue, to events of WW2 and implications to Hitler. Quite laughable, that.