It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us.”

From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future . We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law . We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today’s complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos. The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not. Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defense or by the decision of the Security Council. Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression.

“The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.

I find it laughable that six months on, Putin’s actions in Crimea directly contravene those same actions which he accused and condemned the US and the West in his open letter. It would appear that poor old “Vovka” is suffering a touch of amnesia. Because he’s completely forgotten all his carefully constructed arguments and only gone and unilaterally invaded and occupied a foreign country. A country whose government was “finding their own way to democracy“. But Ukraine’s path to democracy is the antithesis to what Putin’s concept of democracy looks like. His government and cabinet are nothing more than a kleptocracy. A group of well heeled and well oiled oligarchs who, when in favour of the Kremlin, stand to make a lot of money. When they fall out of favour with the Kremlin, their businesses are stolen and given away to the newly appointed venerates who evangelise the Kremlin’s foreign and domestic policy and hold high Putin as an omnipotent being to whom ordinary Russian’s should worship and adore. A kleptocracy who run scared shitless and the slightest sign of unrest or political activism which could potentially topple their entire way of life. So any political unrest needs to be stopped, even if it’s in a neighbouring country who happens to speak the same language.

Putin was quick to use the same language that civilised democracies refer to in his New York Times letter, with numerous references to following International Law and of following the rules of a civilised society. But when has Russia ever adhered to the rule of law? Russia has long been a country where, for the right price, you can literally buy the judge and the ruling you want. It is Putin’s sheer arrogance that he expects anyone outside of Russia to believe his bullshit about Russia abiding by the rule of law. He certainly never applied the rule of law in cases against Khodorkovsky, Magnitsky and Navalny or during the murder investigation of Anna Politkovskaya. He never applied the rule of law during his last foreign adventure in Georgia. Two provinces of Georgia are still to this day under Russian control. And if Putin is so hell bent on enabling ordinary Crimean’s on their choice of self-determination, then why pray-tell did he send in military hardware and troops to crush an identical effort of Chechens when they sought independence from Russia?

No Putin, you haven’t got me fooled. Nor have you got the West. Back in the good old days, someone would have probably put a bullet in your head already. Whereas these days, our lily livered elected Heads of State and our governments in Europe and America are more afraid of oligarchs no longer spending any more of their ill gotten gains in the likes of Harrod’s and Knightsbridge to do anything about it. The French are worried that the €1.2bn order for aircraft carriers might get cancelled. Ze Germans are worried about their direct gas supply being cut-off and the Dutch are afraid that their Royal Family won’t be able to cosy up to a megalomanical President anymore, as they have been able to do this past year in the Netherlands, Moscow and Sochi….heavens forbid!

Putin right now, has nothing to lose. And the West have still yet to grow a pair of balls and announce sanctions that are even meaningful. Preventing a few Russian cabinet members from entering the EU is not going to worry Putin in the slightest, not will it do anything to cripple Russia’s economy and destabilise Russian domestic affairs.

Putin’s next steps, as I see it today, are to continue along the path of sending bus loads of released criminals and provocateurs into Eastern Ukraine in order to provide him with enough excuse to use the 25,000 troops he’s built up on the Ukrainian border. After that, the next two countries his army will be paying a visit to will be Moldova and Serbia. Two countries who have traditionally been aligned with Russia, but who have seen the benefits of their neighbours recent EU membership with their own eyes. And they want EU membership more that they want ties with Moscow.

Moscow has already tried to strong arm Moldova, unsuccessfully. And Serbia is too broke to NOT want EU membership. Ukraine is on its knees. Economically, militarily and emotionally. She has made her choice. To move away from Moscow’s sphere of influence and make her own way in the world. Putin’s words of fraternal love of Ukraine are just that….words. Putin wants a weak Ukraine, because it’s in HIS best interests. A weakened Ukraine means that he can force his will on Kiev, thereby protecting his megalomaniacal power on his own subjects in Russia, avoiding any home-grown dissent. A vociferous and rambunctious nation as a neighbour who forces kleptocratic presidents such as Yanukovich to flee with their tail between their legs does not bode well for a dictator hell-bent on holding on to power.

The simple truth is that it’s paid-for thugs from Russia driving across the border stirring up the violence in Ukraine. It is Russian soldiers on the ground surrounding the ill equipped Ukrainian bases and it Russian paid puppets who have forced an illegal referendum and blocked Ukrainian news channels for ordinary citizens to get an full view of the state of play in their home country. Russian’s are used to not having an open and free press.

Sadly Crimeans think that by choosing Russia over Ukraine, they are going to be better off under Russia’s wings. They think that Russia will invest in Crimea and that the streets will be lined with gold. Well, if you think that having no free press, no freedom of expression, no open and transparent judiciary, a police force that doesn’t believe in one of the fundamental legal doctrines of habeas corpus, and a government that hasn’t invested in any other province in Russia other than Moscow and St. Petersburg is OK, then sure…..go ahead and side with Russia. But if they have, until now, never invested in a single penny in any of the other poorer regions of Russia, what makes you think they would care about Crimea. They might spend a little while the TV camera’s are around, but once they’re gone, documenting the next world crisis and the spotlight has shifted away from Crimea, you’ll be back washing your clothes in a wash-tub, scraping a measly existence as before, only this time when you go to complain about Putin, you’ll get your ass through into a Siberian gulag.