(J. Robert Smith) Vlad Putin, the evil though very calculating chief oligarch of the shriveled nation of Russia (when stacked against its predecessor, the Soviet Union), is playing chess over the fate of Ukraine, while our figurehead president and his gaggle of administration mediocrities (here being charitable) and Pentagon toadies play checkers. I’ll venture this wager — though with modest reservations: Putin will bring Ukraine into his orbit without sending his troops en masse into said country.