The Flynn resignation has been followed by a fast and dramatic escalation of US-Russia tensions, with Pentagon troops deployed to Romania and a near-skirmish in the Black Sea.
The breakdown of US-Russia cooperation over Syria comes as Moscow moves missiles to the Polish border and withdraws from an agreement on plutonium disposal.
The US anti-missile station in Romania was officially activated, to harsh protests from Moscow—as NATO prepares to deploy German troops in the Baltic republics.
Revelation of Washington's plan to station missile-capable nuclear warheads in Germany was met with a Russian threat to deploy ballistic missiles in the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.
An alarming confrontation between Turkish and Russian warplanes over the Black Sea ironically comes as both Ankara and Moscow seek to divide Kurds from the Syrian rebels.
As Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk warns of "World War III," Moscow and Kiev mass troops on their shared border, and the US sends more forces to the Baltics.
Above Russian protests, NATO is beefing up its Baltic Air Policing program with more fighter jets—at the request of regional leaders, who cite Russian provocation.
In light of the Crimea crisis, the EU is reconsidering approval of Russia's pending South Stream and Nord Stream pipelines, that would strategically bypass Ukraine.
