Thus The Wall Street Journal today. “US prosecutors have launched a money-laundering investigation of a member of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, several people familiar with the effort said, escalating pressure on the Russian president’s billionaire supporters,” elaborates the newspaper. In particular, the Justice Department and New York State prosecutors are looking into whether Gennady Timchenko, a Russian gas trader, transferred funds linked to purportedly corrupt deals in Russia through the American financial system. In short, America is getting tough on Russia. Or is it? Once upon a time, the American market would be the prize for any outsider, but things have changed the last three or four decades. Getting tough on one gas trader will make many others go elsewhere. And there are plenty of markets nowadays. The way things stand, America is yet to respond to Russia’s geopolitical challenge last month: either deal with potential adversaries on the global stage or face consequences. The new American probe is barking up a wrong tree. Put simply, Barack Obama is lost not only at home, as the mid-term elections have demonstrated once again, but also abroad.