Gary Kah is the founder and director of Hope for the World and editor of Hope for the World Update. He's also a former Europe and Middle East trade specialist for the Indiana state government and an author. --Gary began the discussion by bringing his insights to bear on the Ukraine situation which included the following- --The regions -Donetsk and Luhansk- that have been declared independent states by Russia, supposedly giving Putin a right to go in and possess those areas. --Germany's temporary cancellation of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. --The U.S. embassy in Ukraine being moved from Kyiv to Poland. --President Biden's announcement concerning several sanctions against Russia, basically blocking them out of the international financial realm.--Gary believes the West has set the stage for Putin's current actions. He noted that the Russian doctrine has been to have a buffer nation -like Ukraine- around its western perimeter so that it can't be overrun like it was by Adolf Hitler. Over time, Poland, the Baltic states and others have joined NATO. So for Gary, this almost seems like an effort to provoke Russia.