Checkmate on another Putin poisoning

German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday announced that Alexei Navalny, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent, had been poisoned with a highly toxic chemical weapon known as Novichok. A top Navalny lieutenant declared that agent’s use is like leaving Putin’s signature at the crime scene.

The victim now lies comatose in a hospital in Germany, further roiling bilateral relations already strained by Putin’s past aggression in Ukraine and Russian operatives’ recent hacking of Merkel’s official email account. Some speculate more sanctions on Russia may ensue.

Unfortunately, Putin knows he is going to get away once again with murder – figuratively, if not literally, in this case. Thanks to Chancellor Merkel’s decision to bring online the so-called Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, Germany is about to become even more comprehensively dependent on Russia for energy. As the Kremlin’s chess-playing despot would say, “Checkmate.”

This is Frank Gaffney.