[annalex]

Right now Putin is backpedaling (US and Russia ministers end Paris talks), so clearly the intended invasion of East Ukraine was a miscalculation on his part. He may still regroup and invade, but he already lost the momentum.

[PAR35]

Right now Putin is backpedaling

Now that is humorous. If you think that Putin backed down because of anything that Obama/Kerry said, then you are a team player. If you think Putin backed down at all, you're watching too much network news.

[jjsheridan5]

Right now Putin is backpedaling (US and Russia ministers end Paris talks), so clearly the intended invasion of East Ukraine was a miscalculation on his part. He may still regroup and invade, but he already lost the momentum.

Nonsense. It is ridiculous how much people fall for. Putin never wanted to get bogged down in occupying territory. Everything he has said indicates he learned the mistakes made by the Soviet Union, one of which is that territory won in the short run is very costly in the long run. He always wanted a divided Ukraine, too internally divided to veer to the West, and fully dependent on the East. The rest was just for show, and to scare the easily rattled. He now has the chessboard how he wants it, so that he can "back down" and get everything he wanted in the first place.

I don't see how your link supports the notion that he is "backpedaling" (it doesn't). But even if he appears to be backpedaling, it is because he is in a position to negotiate a truce that grants him what he has wanted all along -- the Crimea, land access, and a politically divided Ukraine.

This has been obvious from the beginning.

[Straight Vermonter]

Right now Putin is backpedaling... so clearly the intended invasion of East Ukraine was a miscalculation on his part. He may still regroup and invade, but he already lost the momentum.

I think that if he were going to invade eastern Ukraine he would have done it by now. If you are going to do unpopular acts do them all at once and get it done. There is little to be gained by waiting.