Russian tanks in Eastern Ukraine. Who'd have thought it? Surely the Minsk protocols for a ceasefire, which failed to stop an (illegal) election in the rebel-held provinces, the appointment of a 'Prime Minister' in said provinces, and the subsequent threat of retaliation by the Government in Kiev, could have nothing to do with it? Aside from my getting the subject and object of my sentence too far apart, weren't Western leaders ready for the inevitable Russian defense of it's rebel forces in the East? Maybe not.

There has been much talk of a renewed "Cold War" between Russia and the West. Obama was technically correct in claiming that the ideological differences are not the same as they were. Ditto the line up of states. Eastern Europe is now firmly in Nato's camp, which may be part of the problem.

It strikes me that Russia's behaviour resembles more closely that of a great power state from the 19th Century, than that of the former Soviet Union. Sending warships on the tails of its leader is classic gunboat diplomacy - just ask the British.

The West has mishandled the post-Soviet world badly, failing to grasp what Russia's strategic interests were, increasing the size of Nato (rather than dismantling it) and allowing itself to be played for a dupe by the canny Putin ever since. War is not a possibility, given Russia's nuclear arsenal. Some sort of new framework needs to be developed, one that necessarily includes Russia, if we are not to lurch from one crisis to the next.