PUTIN'S RICKETY THREE-LEGGED STOOL

      As the world waits in suspense for the West's retaliation against Putin's mini-WMDattack, many are asking why the Russian leader has engaged in this dangerous provocation.

     The Russian crisis has its roots in the Kremlin's dangerous reliance on oil, crime and nuclear weapons as the cornerstones of its power. By trying to maintain Russia as a superpower on this unstable three-legged stool, Putin has set up a destructive resonance from which it is proving difficult to escape.