Can Blinken's diplomacy with Russia still work?

One year ago, I bet Secretary of State Anthony Blinken never thought he’d be speaking in Berlin, doing damage control for President Joe Biden with more than 100,000 Russian troops surrounding Ukraine.“If Moscow chooses the path of further aggression, we will impose swift and massive costs,” Blinken said in Berlin on Thursday. 

After a fruitless meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday, Blinken told NBC News they’d meet again next week and "see if we can advance this through diplomacy."Exactly. Can diplomacy still get us out of this mess over Ukraine? Maybe. As Blinken said in Berlin, he "would greatly prefer a diplomatic solution" with Russia.  That gentle language won’t scare Putin.

But diplomacy can still work, if Team Biden toughens up, links diplomacy with military force to deter Putin, and gets the president to take aim before he fires off his mouth.