The NATO panic over Ukraine

Fred Kaplan, Stars and Stripes (USA)
Granted, the crisis in Ukraine is worrisome, Vladimir Putin's behavior is unpredictable, and the 30,000 Russian troops amassed on the Ukrainian border arouse a sense of dread and danger unfelt since the Cold War. That said, the alarmism is getting out of hand. Legitimate concerns are spiraling into war chants and trembling, a weird mix of paranoia and nostalgia, needlessly inflating tensions and severely distorting the true picture.