Whatever Putin eventually chooses to do about Ukraine, if his aim was to weaken the Western alliance he has unquestionably scored a number of own goals.

For one, he has boosted the appetite for NATO membership — or at least the determination to keep that option open — in Sweden and Finland. Both Nordic nations remained militarily unaligned when they joined the European Union after the Cold War but have been cooperating increasingly closely with the Atlantic alliance since Russia’s seizure and annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Additionally, his public ultimatums have forced even the least enthusiastic NATO members into a corner where they must reaffirm the alliance’s “open-door” policy, despite long-standing misgivings about the wisdom of admitting Ukraine and Georgia. No one wants to appease Putin with 100,000 Russian troops at Ukraine’s borders…

By insisting on a Cold War-style “superpower-to-superpower” negotiation format with the U.S., and disdainfully rejecting any place for the EU at the table, Russia has also pulled the rug out from under those in Paris, Berlin and Brussels who dream of a new European security architecture devised among themselves.