>I would add be wary of whatever you hear on NPR.

Yep... from the opposite angle :).

BTW, is the same deafening silence on other news faucets on the subject of Russia for the last few days? All of a sudden, with the Black Sea swarming with hardware from both sides, ever since Russians said "if you really want another cold war, we can play", you don't hear the usual barrage of disparaging remarks against Russia and symmetrical praise for any suck-up satellite color-coded NATO-candidate president willing to say that they fared better under Hitler than under USSR. I'm almost missing all that, to the point where my blood pressure is getting dangerously low...

I just hope this is the sign they want to pick up their toys and pack the whole circus and go home... as in "war, but nobody came".