IN UKRAINE “scorched earth” tactics. “The violence, which will resonate for weeks, months or even years around this fragile and bitterly divided former Soviet republic of 46 million, exposed the impotence, in this dispute, of the United States and the European Union, which had engaged in a week of fruitless efforts to mediate a peaceful settlement. It also shredded doubts about the influential reach of Russia, which had portrayed the protesters as American-backed ‘terrorists’ and, in thinly coded messages from the Kremlin, urged Mr. Yanukovych to crack down.” More of that “Smart Diplomacy” paying off, I guess.