David Stefancic, PhD, professor of history at Saint Mary's College, whose expertise includes Russian and Eastern European history, can speak to what is going on in the region currently. He says: "Crimea is only the beginning. Russia feels strong again and needs to show the world its strength. Russia must prove its strength through power because despite its blustering it has an inferiority complex. A complex that makes them the bully on the block. Eastern Ukraine is next but not the last. We are watching Putin reestablish a buffer zone around itself for protection from enemies known and unknown, those of the past and those of the future. Shock waves are traveling through the Baltic states and Poland as well as Romania. We are watching the resurrection of historical Russian aspirations. The West has shown weakness in the face of Russian aggression in the same way the West ignored Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1939. Putin has had it his way and will continue to press until a forceful response is mounted by NATO and the US."

Stefancic wrote an editorial in 1995 that seems prophetic now:http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19951126&id=Z-E0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=bgMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6677,8021392