Robert Gates: “I am confident that the New START treaty will in no way compromise America's nuclear deterrent.”

Putin feels that he has a destiny to recreate the Russian Empire.

I'm kind of pessimistic for the near term.

He's going to insist on occupying all four of the eastern provinces of the Donbas.

I think the president is — based on what I read — is getting the sense that, as he put it, that Putin is 'tapping' him along.