Washington has offered to sacrifice a pawn for the queen.

Putin's elite has reduced all politics to tricks and schemes, and it holds the public in deep contempt. The public responds in kind: In a recent poll 83 percent said that government power in Russia is controlled by a narrow circle of individuals unaccountable to the people.

Russian president Vladimir Putin might be biting off more than he can chew with his aggressive stance toward the United States and other countries.