Why Has Putin Gone Quiet As The Ukraine Civil War Continues On the Russian Border

President Vladimir Putin (center) attending the Internet Entrepreneurship in Russia forum at the Silver City Business Center in Moscow, June 10, 2014.(RIA Novosti / Alexei Druzhinin)

Putin's Saber-Rattling Goes Quiet on Ukraine -- Georgy Bovt, Moscow Times

Ultra-patriotic Russian politicians are already asking: "Hasn't Moscow betrayed the militias of Donetsk, Slovyansk and Luhansk?" Indeed, many people are confused by the contrast between Russia's actions in Crimea and its almost total inaction — at least on an official level — in eastern and southern Ukraine.

The entire Crimean operation concluded without gunshots or bloodshed. But in the east and south of Ukraine, rivers of blood are flowing, civilians are dying, chilling footage of the carnage circulates on social networks and, unfortunately, residential areas have come under shellfire. The first refugees from the war zone have already crossed into Russia.

What is a patriot to think when, after watching Donetsk separatist leader Igor Strelkov and his compatriots hold the superior forces of the so-called "Kiev junta" at bay, he sees Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands with French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and even that "agent of the U.S. State Department," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko? How is that possible? Why isn't Putin sending in troops to defend our Russian brothers? Could Putin really fear Western sanctions?

Let's try to understand the situation without hysterics.

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My Comment: Everyone is now playing the waiting game .... and on who will blink first. My prediction .... because of Ukraine's growing economic crisis, the new Ukrainian President will make the first move to accommodate the separatists in the eastern part of the country. Will these rebels listen .... that is a answer that no one knows right now. Will Russia listen .... that is what Ukraine President Poroshenko is hoping for.