Sometimes the feds communicate with us in ways that the New York Times cannot readily put into a headline:

In case you didn’t catch what just happened, we will take the unlucky fellow we just accused of murdering the president, and have a mafia bagman whack him in the basement of a police station, on television.

In case you didn’t catch what just happened, we will destroy a forty-seven story building in seven seconds, in a controlled demolition, and claim it collapsed due to some fires.

…

Sometimes the feds use a simple fashion statement, like eyewear, to communicate what is actually going on, even if the message is unintended. The more terrible things occur in Ukraine, the more our responses seem off the point.

Here is a quotation from The Globe and Mail:

Ukraine ordered its army to resume an offensive against pro-Russian militants after the apparent torture and killing of a politician from the party of interim President Oleksandr Turchynov.

Shortly after the announcement, the Ukrainian military reported one of its aircraft had been hit by gunfire near the rebel-held city of Slavyansk, close to where the bodies of politician Vladimir Rybak – a member of city council in nearby Horlivka – and another unidentified man were found. The two had reportedly been grotesquely tortured.

Talk about a provocation.

Did you hear the sound bite of Biden speaking to the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev, offering U. S. support to keep their country whole? Talk about tepid! They could say, “You came all the way to Kiev to reassure us like that? What’s the matter with you?” If you want to stand with people who feel pressure from their Russian neighbors, better to do it the way Kennedy did in Berlin.

I like the sunglasses. They fit the occasion.