There is no Escaping the Past....nor the Future....

I am fully aware of the dangers of the Ukraine.  As always national boundaries are drawn by the victors, sometimes constructively, and sometimes maliciously. The Ukraine has suffered from this almost since its inception and certainly its most recent manifestation arising from the ashes of the Second World War is flawed to the core with battle lines being drawn along religious, ethnic and political lines.

Post-Soviet Russia might have changed it's political stripes and openly embraced capitalism-but its territorial imperialism, even if it is to defend its national interests against perceived threats- both real and  imagined-is as strong as ever.

The EU and the USA are engaging in a dangerous game of baiting the Russian bear as if the wars in Chechnya, in Georgia, not to mention the interventions in Budapest and Prague were not part of a long term geopolitical dance with destiny.

No one in the West wants to go to war over the Ukraine and so the West's antics are more to discomfort Russia rather the prick it into overt aggression-if Russia plays along.

I would suggest however that on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the First World War which, despite Bismarck's famous statement that "the Balkans weren't worth the bones of a Pomeranian grenadier ended up costing a lot of bones, the majority of which were not from Pomerania, that we be very careful of our actions in the Ukraine.

I'm not sure that it's that much different than Egypt or Syria except that Russia sits on the other side of the board.

I am not forgetting nor suggesting that the path of appeasement was any more successful 25 years later, but we should be very clear of the ramifications of our actions and react strategically rather then the tactical positioning which smacks of opportunism as practiced by dilettantes..