Relations between Washington and Berlin have gotten cool in recent years, and yesterday Berlin had to assert it's independence from the U.S.

The Washington political establishment appears to be ready to do something that can't be undone. Once you sanction your allies either they fold, or they stop being allies.

then you'll be the "socialist" bogeyman for life.

Check out this piece from Thursday:

The U.S. prepared to apply more sanctions on Russia this week. After years of increasing sanctions, it might be difficult to find anything in Russia that hasn't already been sanctioned.
The important thing is that the sanctions are working, right?

As Rachel Maddow would say, "Russia!Russia!Russia!"
Consider this recent WashPost headline: Russia secretly offered North Korea a nuclear power plant, officials say