If Vladimir Putin thought his invasion of Ukraine might cower Eastern European countries and intimidate NATO to stay away from the Russian sphere of influence .... he badly miscalculated. As NATO wraps up its high-level meetings today in Madrid, they have formally invited Finland and Sweden to join the alliance ... while the Biden administration is announcing dramatically scaled-up deployments of American troops to countries like Poland and the Baltics, right on Russia's doorstep. For the first time since the end of the Cold War there will be significant, and in many cases permanent positioning of American combat power in Eastern Europe. Meanwhile Russia continues stepping up its missile attacks over much of Ukraine. Seemingly without the ability to win clear-cut victories even in their scaled down operations in Eastern Ukraine, Putin and Russia will seek to terrorize Ukrainians into submission. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices