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For all the flimsy, sometimes absurd theater of the referendums, the security implications for Europe were deadly serious, and Ukrainians were nervously mulling how far Mr. Putin might go.

The absurd theater of the briefings is a sideshow, however, to the real tragedy, which the show places back in January and February, when virtually no preparations were being made in Washington despite the alarming news coming out of Wuhan and other parts of the world.