Article: This must not be the start of World War III Putin is using military action to make a political point. A commander who dealt with Russian troops in Kosovo argues that we must make a measured response

When the Cold War ended, there was a great sense of euphoria in the West and in the non-Russian republics of the Soviet Union. The nuclear sword of Damocles had been lifted, democracy had prevailed, peace dividends could be taken.

The non-Russian republics of the erstwhile union seized the opportunity to obtain their independence from Russia: the political map of eastern Europe, the Baltic, central Asia and - particularly - the Caucasus changed radically.

The end of the Cold War exposed the futility and pretence of the ideology which had underpinned the Soviet Empire - and also the falsity and pretence of the allegedly unified political construct that was the Soviet Union.

In the West, there ...

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