Like a dark horse: Russia’s gamble in Crimea

http://themoscownews.com/oped/20140303/192276922/Like-a-dark-horse-Russias-gamble-in-Crimea.html



Like a dark horse: Russia’s gamble in Crimea
OP-ED
by Natalia Antonova at 03/03/2014 19:07

"Do you want to make God laugh? Tell him about your plans." This Russian saying has come in handy for everyone watching in shock as the Ukraine crisis deepened and Russian President Vladimir Putin got authorization from the Federation Council to deploy troops in Ukraine "until the situation stabilizes" - ostensibly to protect ethnic Russians from radicals.

Once again, we were treated to the spectacle of Western leaders badly misjudging their Russian counterparts.

The West had meddled in Ukraine and in the Euromaidan protest movement - sometimes clumsily, such as when U.S. Senator John McCain got up on the stage in Kiev with nationalist politician Oleh Tyahnibok scowling in the background, and sometimes deftly - but it had meddled from the start.

Yet as the West got involved, it assumed that Russia would copy its movements without upping the ante.