Ukraine a lesson for the West

'Ukraine Isn't Armageddon." Now, how bold and direct is that?

This is the banner headline splashed over the most incisive piece of journalism I have read on Russian President Vladimir Putin and the crisis in Crimea. It led the April edition of Le Monde Diplomatique, the sharp monthly news magazine published in Paris.

You won't find anything like its analysis in the mostly war-baiting US media. Being left-leaning, the Paris magazine is not even remotely interested in defending Putin. And being French, it is determined to be contrarian.