Neil Cavuto show on FBN just winding up, it featured long interviews with both Gary Kasparov (i guess the leader of Putin opposition) and Shalikashvili in his office just after the Condi signing ceremony. The show re-broadcasts at 8PM CST. It’s worth a watch on many levels. Kasparov despairs over his people, says the Putin oligarchs are looting Russia, that their money is being kept out of Russia, not invested in country, but hoarded “in all the capitals of Europe”. It’s just riveting –as is Shalikashvili’s combination of shock and defiance.

( @lifeofmind –you’re right –i just popped off from the ”labeling” angle, how much power there is in slogans and so forth. “The” Ukraine was common useage for an area inside the USSR, a part of USSR. Then when it went free, there was a big deal made of dropping the ”the” and becoming Ukraine, the free nation. so it’s almost sort of a tag, an emblem –more than just an old fart nitpicking, tho i know it sounded that way )