this is a perfect moment for every country with ethnic russians in their midst to start expelling them by force.

I think this would be tragic, unnecessary and unwise. At a talk on Central Asia I attended yesterday, the ethnic Russians are now coming to terms with the fact that the old times are not coming back. The way forward in this world is to focus our attentions on the bad guys, by which I mean the Hitler wannabees, and to avoid punishing Joe Ivan. Joe Ivan is probably interested in making a buck, going to the banya and getting his shot of vodka. Which is fine by me. We should try and limit this and wind it down because we are going to wind up in the very same maelstrom that Russia is creating. Who is else is Putin going to find down there but us?

The logic of escalation is that people and events are relentlessly, involuntarily and inexorably drawn together into a combustible mess. We should try and live together. But sometimes that means getting rid of troublemakers like Putin, peacefully if possible.