Putin’s 1st Red Flag: The Five Day War

Many have been surprised by Vladimir Putin’s expansionism in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and subsequent war in Ukraine’s Donbas region, by backing Russian separatist troops.

Putin’s support of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria in 2015 and interference in the United States’ election in 2016 was less of a surprise to those who were watching closely.

But Putin rarely showed red flags before he invaded Georgia. In fact, up until 2007, when he was openly critical of the West at a conference in Germany, there were not that many signs of…