Stop us if you've heard this one: Russian tanks, armored personnel carriers, and heavy artillery cross the border into Ukraine, accompanied by Russian soldiers in uniforms without insignia.

That happened today, November 12, 2014, but only in the sense that it was reported by NATO. (And in response to this supposedly new military situation, the Russian Defense Ministry just announced that it will begin conducting long-range bomber flights in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and eastern Pacific.)

Ukraine has been complaining about this very same Russian incursion into its territory for days. And, really, you'd be forgiven for losing track and losing count of the number of times this has happened since insignia-less Russian soldiers—nicknamed "little green men"—first appeared in the Ukrainian peninsula know as Crimea back in February. Since Putin launched his so-called hybrid warfare against Ukraine last spring, the number of such incursions has been fluid and hard to count—and that's by design. It is supposed to be difficult to track and, more importantly, to punish. How do you deal with Russian "volunteers"—hundreds of Russian soldiers who were forced to take vacations while being sent to fight—and "humanitarian convoys" that seem designed not to deliver aid, but to test the weakness of the Russo-Ukrainian border?

Why is this 549th Russian incursion into Ukrainian territory important?



Well, according to the Western press, this shows that the September 5 ceasefire agreement, signed by the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian separatists as the West breathed a collective sigh of relief, is now "collapsing." Since its signing, the accord has been "battered," "doubtful," "strained," "shaky," and "crumbling." Two days ago, Washington told Moscow to obey the truce. Today, Moscow told Washington to do the same. Consider this November 9 headline, from the Financial Times: "Heaviest Shelling Since Truce Renews Ukraine War Fears." Heaviest shelling since truce? Where lies the line between shelling that violates a ceasefire, and shelling that doesn't?