De-escalation, or heightened tension and danger?  The initial reports indicate there may at least be a pause in the pre-war build-up.  But will NATO continue its eastward expansion, which breaks a pledge made by the U.S. in February 1990 — of “not one inch eastward” — and which Putin has called crossing a red line?  Biden responded by saying he will accept no red lines.  Despite the benefit gained from continuing a dialogue, the danger remains, especially as the U.S. and its allies continue the provocative claims that Putin plans to invade, as part of a broader propaganda offensive that splits the world into two camps, the “democracies” versus the “autocracies.”  Thus, the deeper problem continues to be the commitment in the Trans-Atlantic to a world-view shaped by classic British geopolitics.