So are we going to continue to pretend....?

The evidence is pretty clear by now that Russia is not only supplying and reinforcing the Ukrainian rebels, but that in fact Russian regular troops are engaged on Ukrainian soil. Intelligence photographs, some available on the web, show convoys of Russian tanks, mobile artillery and armored vehicles moving within the Ukraine. But of course Russia continues to deny that they are there.

A few days ago ten Russian regular army soldiers were captured in the Ukraine. Russia says that they were on border patrol and just strayed across into the Ukraine by accident -- BUT in fact they were captured 20 km inside the Ukraine, hardly an accidental crossing.

Yesterday a Russian armored column captured the seaside town of Novoazovsk in the Ukrainian, so now the pretense is even thinner than before.

So this is the question: are the US and Europe going to continue to pretend to believe that Russia is telling the truth, even though the evidence is now overwhelming that Russia is lying and is actively involved in the Ukraine? And if so, why is this? President Obama promised more stringent sanctions if Russia went further. So now they have gone further, while of course still denying everything. Is the president once again going to ignore the red line he himself drew? And if so, what does that tell other nations about US willingness to follow through on its threats?

Is Europe, always fairly feckless anyway, going to ignore this? What does that tell the newly-liberated Eastern European nations about NATO willingness to defend them? It seems to me the US administration is floundering here, with no clear strategy. If so, this could be pretty dangerous. Those who know the history leading up to World War II will recognize the similarities.