Hi Andrew, I sure appreciate your analysis, and just as much the variety of responses this post has generated. I agree - intuitively - that the west has been scared by Putin into a policy of appeasement, and that never, ever ends well. To me, it is incredible that a man can invade another country and then threaten the neighbours that if they intervene, it will be a declaration of war. If anyone buys that, they are already accepting Putin's claim to the territory of Ukraine as 'his."