Since Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Western Europe has solidified around the idea that allowing Putin to get away with this outrage is only a prelude to more outrageous conduct in the future. The result has been some of the most serious sanctions imposed on any national bad-actor in recent memory.

What is more stunning is that Europe has led the way, while Joe Biden was slurping down applesauce in Delaware. What surprised me was how Western Europe, particularly Germany, stepped up with promises of lethal military aid to Ukraine. Several nations announced they were drawing down the war stocks of their own militaries to send weapons to help Ukraine defend itself. Germany, to my shock, announced it was sending 1,000 Javelin ATGM and 500 Stinger MANPADS.

Now Russia, which thought it could shell defenseless cities with impunity, is upset and calling the action unfriendly.

Russia rejects arms shipments to Ukraine by West. pic.twitter.com/c6jt03VYYu

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) February 28, 2022

This looks pretty unfriendly, too.

Kharkiv under intense shelling by Russian artillery now. Civilian objects are targeted. Preliminary reports indicate dozens of casualties. Looks like revenge for the heroic resistance yesterday. #PutinWarCriminal pic.twitter.com/BjNv1TdO6M

— Olga Tokariuk (@olgatokariuk) February 28, 2022

Earlier today, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov used a video conference to Geneva…he couldn’t fly there because Western Europe has closed its airspace to Russian aircraft…to do what he does best — that is, make threats at the behest of his master.

Russia's top diplomat warns there will be consequences for nations supplying weapons to Ukraine

— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) February 28, 2022

The classic, perhaps, is this from Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (think of her as a blonde Jen Psaki, and it all makes sense) on Telegram. The translation is automated.

Commentary by M.V. Zakharova on the decision of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany on the start of deliveries of lethal weapons to Ukraine

💬In recent days, we have witnessed repeated statements by the German side about the start of deliveries of military weapons to Ukraine (in particular, we are talking about 1,000 portable anti-tank missiles, 500 Stinger portable anti-aircraft missile systems, allowing a number of third countries to transfer German-made weapons to Kiev) which runs counter to Berlin’s previously balanced line on this issue. This decision of the German Government was officially confirmed by the German Federal Chancellor O. Scholz during his speech in the Bundestag on February 27, 2022. Such an outrageous gesture is justified by the “struggle of Ukraine for its freedom and independence”, as well as the “threat” that our country allegedly poses to the European security.

There is nothing new under the sun. Once again, as many times in history, weapons coming from German soil will be directed against Russian soldiers. Against this background, the assurances of O. Scholz about the importance of the process of historical reconciliation between the peoples of Germany and Russia sounded especially cynical.

❗️With this decision, the FRG is calling for the ghosts of not a cold war, but a “hot” war itself. Too many sad associations are evoked by the prospect of further “military” pumping of Kiev from Berlin, which, moreover, apparently does not realize that in the current situation, the weapons supplied on Ukrainian territory can easily become the prey of neo-Nazis, terrorists and marauders.

The supply of weapons to the ideological heirs of the Nazi accomplice S. Bandera makes us, willy-nilly, ask a rhetorical question – how comprehensive and complete was the process of denazification in Germany itself after the defeat in World War II? In this context, now, alas, the depreciating remarks of O. Scholz, who, during the Munich Conference on Security Policy on February 18, 2022, declared “ridiculous” the revealed facts of the genocide of the civilian population of Donbass by the Ukrainian military, become understandable.

You have to love it, “The supply of weapons to the ideological heirs of the Nazi accomplice S. Bandera makes us, willy-nilly, ask a rhetorical question – how comprehensive and complete was the process of denazification in Germany itself after the defeat in World War II?”

This is obviously a thinly veiled threat of direct action against Germany. The Nazi epithet is one the Russian neo-communists, and our own homegrown variety are very fond of throwing about.

All of this, from Putin shaking his di-, uh, I mean nuclear weapons at the Western world on Sunday (Putin Orders Russian Nuclear Forces on Alert Status as His Ukrainian Adventure Stalls) to Lavrov threatening “consequences” smells of flop-sweat. The Russian economy is about to be shaken down to its foundations, as even Switzerland has joined in economic sanctions. Russian athletes can’t compete in their sports. The Russian Top 1% can’t travel as they did. If the war in Ukraine settles down to a steady state, which it may have achieved, then Russian casualties will mount, and every day, more and more people will ask what Russia is hoping to gain from this misadventure.