You’re not a maverick, John. Just Hanoi John, hotel resident, being fed your Janes by Ho Chi Minh.
Filth.
Russia’s influence over the Near Abroad is economic and diplomatic and the saber rattling is a last resort. Putin understands that restoring Russian influence means going from where the Soviet Union disintegrated through a restoration not of the Soviet Union but the economic ties that had long existed between Russia and the other ex-Soviet Republics. The Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union is a sign of where integrative processes in the ex-Soviet space are heading over two decades after the disappearance of the Soviet Union.
Zero sympathy. This schmuck tried to get us involved in his parochial nonsense. Good riddance.