It seems we're inching toward eyeball-to-eyeball territory. What else to make from a presidential press conference that warns of the "unforeseen consequences" of belligerency, that affirms "our preferred path is to resolve this [crisis] diplomatically," and asserts that we're "prepared to meet our alliance obligations" to NATO partners and Baltic states in a conflict that is, as the president put it, no longer "localized"?
I had a professor in undergrad school who related that after listening to President Kennedy's quarantine speech on national television, he raced to the liquor cabinet. I'm a long way from that then-sensible reaction, but clearly the ball, as they say, is now squarely in Vladimir Putin's court. And Vladimir Putin, in my assessment, has demonstrated less than sublime strategic wisdom since seizing Crimea. That bare-chested Russkie is giving me the shakes, before the heavy drinking.
Continuing with the clichés, will he now, finally, blink? His recent behavior evokes little hope of that, but who knows? Perhaps he'll be wily in his own favor, for a change.