[guest post by JVW]

Developments from today’s news shows:

The U.S. has obtained intelligence that Russian officers have received orders to launch an invasion into Ukraine. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin confirmed the information during an appearance on Face the Nation Sunday.

The intelligence suggests that Russian commanders are making military preparations and “doing everything that American commanders would do once they got the order to proceed,” Martin said.

Earlier Sunday, both the State department and Pentagon said the U.S. was still pulling all the diplomatic stops to attempt to de-escalate the Russia-Ukraine crisis as an incursion becomes increasingly probable.

Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Russian president Vladimir Putin’s positioning of forces in Ukraine’s immediate geographical neighborhood indicted an impending incursion.

“He’s followed the script almost to the letter,” he said.

It’s a bit mystifying why the Biden Administration has spent the past couple of weeks pushing the idea that Russia is on the verge of invading, despite the Ukrainian president’s pleas to tone down the rhetoric. In my unmatched cynicism I tend to believe that the Biden Administration wants to convey that they saw this coming all along in case it comes to fruition, and they want to be able to claim that they forced Russia to stand down in case Vladimir Putin changes his mind. As one Internet wag put it, I’m going to wait to see what John Kerry’s assessment of the situation is before I chime in, because he’s never wrong.

– JVW