Well, Bismark coined the phrase Real Politik to sum it all up. This concept justifies a nation doing anything in its power to survive or promote its own interests which again equates to national survival so therefore, anything goes. Everything is on the table, and even better when you throw religion into the pot..... Jewish Holocaust, Armenian Genocide, El Qaeda, ISIS, Sunni vs Shia, The US and CN treatment of Natives, plus the employment of Nazi rocket scientists to build the US Space program. Might Means Right....and the recent classic....Mr Putin's take over of the Crimea and parts of the Ukraine. God forbid, that the Ukraine should escape the clutches of Moscow! So Hitleresque....".God damn, those Czechs are raping the Sudeten Landers.....oh sorry, I mean those dirty Ukrainians are abusing Russians". Such a classic excuse......and so odd for our glorious allies of WW 2, well not so odd when we look at Stalin's pogrom of the Ukraine in the 20's..... deliberate starvation!
I have studied Russian History, and the thing that sticks in my mind is that life to their leadership is so cheap, it means nothing to take lives or sacrifice lives. Their History is one of monarchy or dictatorship, and slaughter, nothing else. They have brilliance and Kultur but too much blood. The Bolsheviks knocked off the Monarchy and just replaced it with another elite..."The Vanguard of the Proletariat", and now they have Mr. P and his KGB cronies who assassinate any opposition. Mr. Putin recently reminded the world that Russia is a nuclear power and should not be messed with!

What a Cold War cliche! I really feel sorry for the everyday Russian, what a depressing, grinding existence, no wonder they drink so much Vodka, who wouldn't? Its all so classic and really quite boring Historically, but costs millions of innocent lives. The curse of knowing History, is to have to sit on the side lines and watch it happen all over again. Time and time again! B