Remember Leon Aron’s argument that Putin’s Crimea gambit* was for domestic popularity? If so, well-played, Bad Vlad!

Germans cheer restoration of the lost dignity of the Reich!

Last week, in the midst of the Crimean crisis and on the heels of the Sochi Olympics, Mr. Putin’s approval rating had increased to 71.6 percent, the highest point since he returned to the presidency in 2012, according to a poll released by the All-Russian Center for Public Opinion last week.

Also, in case you missed them over the weekend, there was some excellent reading on the Corner, mostly by Andrew Stuttaford.

On the Eurasian Express.

Squeezing the Baltic.

A Kidnapping in Crimea.

On the Eurasian Express (2).

*The Crimea Gambit sounds like an unwritten Robert Ludlum novel, no?

Confucius, Œc. Vol.

Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu.