Buckdog

The great divide between the former Soviet Union and the NATO West ran right through Germany and was best symbolized by the Berlin Wall. Things changed. After 1989 Russian influence in the other 12 former soviet republics waned and the Russian Empire was badly weakened and reduced.
Enter Vladamyr Putin with a new Russian vigour for empire and once again see a great divide between the Russian Empire and the West.
What we are witnessing in the Ukraine will ultimately define the new divde or border between the two worlds. It will run through the middle of the Ukraine.
Stay tuned.

Better brace yourself, Dog, because the 21st is shaping up to be a century of turmoil and war. I just finished an online course in the causes of war in the 21st century from the war studies department of King's College, London. I thought I was a realist on the glum side when I began. Turns out I've been an optimist all along.

A lot of the overflow will be from insurgencies and civil wars sparked by ethnic nationalism and resource scarcity, your run of the mill genocidal mayhem.

As for Big Nation wars, the theories are all over the map but, in a world where resources are like a maxed-out credit card, tensions will be running high in all the major capitals.

I agree with leftdog about the new world order that's forming up. We may be just what Beijing needed to breathe life into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

As for Ukraine, it's hardly worth risking a major shooting war over. It just isn't.