Weeks after Rus­sia seized Crimea, Russ­ian Pres­i­dent Vladimir Putin con­tin­ued to insist that Rus­sia had­n’t seized Crimea.

Ger­man Chan­cel­lor Angela Merkel, with whom Putin had enjoyed a rea­son­ably good rela­tion­ship, final­ly despaired of con­vinc­ing him to back down.  “He’s in anoth­er world,” Merkel report­ed­ly told Pres­i­dent Obama.

Merkel was wrong. Putin is very much in this world and doing quite well. So are rad­i­cal Islamists, as they remind­ed us again with the Char­lie Heb­do atroc­i­ties. It is West­ern lead­ers who seem to be liv­ing in anoth­er world.  Read more.