Crimean Bridge Measures the Span of Putin's Ambitions

The Russian annexation of Crimea is to be consummated with a 19-kilometer (11.8-mile) bridge connecting Russia's Krasnodar region with the Crimean city of Kerch. The first support of the bridge was completed earlier this month, beginning the final phase of a project that explains a lot about how President Vladimir Putin's Russia functions -- and how Russia has functioned for ages, achieving surprising results with chaotic, ill-thought-out efforts.

The Nazis were the first to try to bridge the Kerch Strait in 1943 as they created an infrastructure for their invasion of the Soviet Union. Hitler's personal architect and trusted minister, Albert Speer, commissioned and approved the plans, and construction started just in time for the Soviet troops to push the Nazis back. The Germans bombed what they had built so the Russians couldn't use it. The Soviets completed a bridge in 1944, but it was a temporary one, using wooden supports, and ice floes crushed it in 1945.