Brian Glenn's remark summed up the sheer childishness of it all.

Sadly this is 100% deliberately timed by Putin. And in Trump he faces a POTUS whom he correctly judges to be the weakest and most easily manipulated there has ever been, by a long way.

Nothing will change, unfortunately. Once again, Trump's narcissism serves to reveal his own impotence. It's impossible to imagine a less competent statesman.

Maybe Putin's brand of nationalism considers Yeltsin's recognition effectively annulled: “I’ve said it before, Russians and Ukrainians are one people. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours. There’s an old rule that wherever a Russian soldier sets foot, that’s ours."

It may be that Lavrov genuinely doesn't believe that Ukraine is a sovereign state in that, according to the 'Russian Soul', it is and always has been inherently part of Mother Russia, no matter how it labels itself or other countries label it. Seems this is what we're up against.

I do wish he would learn grammar and syntax.

Yes. And said fans are now jumping on the Farage bandwagon en masse, eager for their own predicament to become even worse, this being the essential requirement for cranking up the volume on "Rule, Britannia!".

I've given up and just don't care about the UK any more. My life is in Germany now. I'd rather do my bit to fend off AfD than worry about Farage fascism.