The tragedy of MH17 should be a wake-up call to Western leaders to stop dragging their feet and take decisive action now.

Extra European sanctions are likely to arrive faster, and they may even be more robust. But beyond that, there are real hard limits to how far the West will go in the aftermath of the Malaysia Air disaster.

Putin cannot be happy about this latest, tragic turn of events. After all, things were going more or less according to plan up to now.