tension

To understand why Russian President Vladimir Putin has been willing to escalate tensions in the Ukraine even after annexing the Crimean peninsula, it’s instructive to remember back to 2008 when he told George W. Bush that “Ukraine is not even a country.”

The situation in Ukraine remains tense, yet the odds are that it will now stabilise. It is unlikely Russia will invade eastern Ukraine, both because it is unclear whether this was in the plans (if such plans ever existed) and because the West has reacted and raised the stakes.