After several weeks of back-and-forth bantering, it appears as though Vladimir Putin is done puffing out his chest. The Russian President has been a fly in the ointment of global diplomacy for months now, as he continued to move a grand number of troops to strategic locations near the Ukrainian border.  After forcefully annexing Crimea from Ukraine years ago, many believed that Putin would simply steamroll into Kiev and take the whole of Ukraine sometime in the near future. His massive troop buildups on the border, complete with “invasion stripes” being painted on military vehicles, drew harsh criticism from US President Joe Biden, as well as from a number of international agencies. After some tough talk between Biden and Putin, it appears as though Putin is backing down. Russia’s defense minister on Thursday ordered troops back to their permanent bases following massive drills in Crimea that involved dozens of navy ships, hundreds of warplanes and thousands of troops in a show of force amid tensions with Ukraine. After watching the drills, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu declared the maneuvers over and ordered the military to pull the troops taking part in maneuvers in Crimea and western Russia back to their permanent bases. “I consider the goals of the snap check of readiness fulfilled,” Shoigu said. “The troops have shown their defense capability and I decided to complete the drills in the South and Western military districts.” Putin has been a big fan of bluster in recent years, intercepting a number of US jets in sovereign airspace, blocking access to the Black Sea, and constantly touting his “hypersonic” missiles capable of evading even the most robust defense systems.

For many Republicans, there is a great fear that the White House is either in denial that a humanitarian crisis is occurring on the southern border, or that they are actively looking to tamp down the reality of the situation to save political face. In either case, many within the GOP are unwilling to wait any longer for the federal government to take the issue seriously, and are simply taking matters into their own hands this week. In Arizona… Gov. Doug Ducey will dispatch National Guard troops to the southern border in response to a recent increase in migrants being apprehended by the Border Patrol, his office announced Tuesday. The Republican leader also declared a state of emergency in four border counties — Cochise, Pima, Santa Cruz and Yuma — as well as in Maricopa and Pinal. “The U.S. Border Patrol is overwhelmed. Local law enforcement and mayors are calling out for help,” Ducey said in a video outlining his rationale. “Citizens in our border communities are concerned for their safety, and nonprofits, left to pick up the pieces of broken federal policies, are strained … and yet we still haven’t received an adequate response from the (Joe) Biden administration.” Ducey was quite perturbed with the response from the Biden team. The governor for weeks has held Biden solely responsible for the migrant surge, pointing to the Democrat’s decision to reverse a series of aggressive immigration policies implemented by his predecessor. During a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border last month, Ducey blasted Biden and his administration for being “totally divorced from the reality on the ground.” Vice President Kamala Harris has been tapped to lead the effort to rein in the migrant crisis, but has yet to either visit the border or hold a press conference detailing her work.