Merkel Is Playing Long Ball with Putin

I would like Putin's regime to fall and be replaced with a liberal, pro-European government that would put Russia on a convergence path with the European Union. I don't condone Putin's actions in Ukraine, starting with the annexation of Crimea and continuing with his support for separatist goons in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Still, baiting Putin isn't the right thing to do.

And that's what German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had the longest meeting with the Russian president at the G-20, thinks, too.