Putin Snubbed:

Vladimir Putin was reported to be not exactly overjoyed at not being invited to the West's commemorative WWII bash on the Normandy Beaches this week. He is said to have hinted that this invasion of Hitler's Festung Europa was not that important an event anyhow.

He was right, of course. Hitler's invasion of the Soviets cost the Soviet Union over 25 million lives. By the time of the landing on the Normandy beaches, the Soviets had already beaten the Nazis back at Stalingrad and Prokorovka.

Of course, timing of the Normandy landing took place at a leisurely pace for a very good reason, which Putin must surely have figured out for himself. Churchill and Roosevelt had probably conspired to allow the two countries that had ganged up on Poland back in '39 to tear at each other's throats as long as possible before they stepped in to establish their own presence in Europe.

Still, the Soviets were allied with the West by the time of the Normandy landing and it would have been a plus for diplomacy to have the Russians join in the commemorative events this week.

Or maybe not.