At the time of writing, Russia had just sent an ultimatum, demanding that Ukraine surrenders the Crimean peninsula.

That deadline was set to expire at 3am. What the world will have woken up to this morning is anyone’s guess. But it seems that Russia means business. Despite the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation has emerged weakened, yet still strong and strong enough to call the world’s bluff.

Up until yesterday, no shots had been fired, but Russian troops were in the Crimea and had surrounded several army bases. Russia maintains that it is safeguarding the interests of ethnic Russians in the Crimea.

But, it is also being seen by many analysts to be a land grab and an attempt to show the world that Russia is, once again a Superpower that is not afraid of the West’s retaliation – whether in the form of sanctions or in the form of a military presence. Russia has done this already, we saw what happened in Georgia when two Russian leaning provinces broke away and a brief war – where Russia marched in and ‘liberated’ Abkhazia and South Ossettia.

Europe is sick, and its armed forces have been drastically reduced in size, most notably the UK. Besides, Europe would never dare face off against Russia.

The US has done some tough posturing, but even that seems futile. What we also have to ask here is; if there was a case for invading Iraq, is there not a case of intervening in this case? It would push the world to the brink, and we can already feel the chills of another period of cold war.

We also have to ask how Russia could veto action in Syria, and then go on to annex territory belonging to another country. There are other ways to do this. If the people in the Crimea want to forge closer ties with Russia, then a referendum should be held. Equally, Russia should not be making demands of Ukraine to enter once more into a unity pact. It is clear that the people of Ukraine have decided that their future lies with the West, not with Russia.

Russia has also blockaded Ukrainian warships and has asked for their surrender, or they will be stormed. While the world hopes that Russia is bluffing, it seems increasingly more serious. Nato cannot intervene. Ukraine is not a member and it cannot leap to its defence. The truth is that Nato is probably secretly happy that it will not be obliged to. The real drama, however, would unfold if Russia decided to invade east Ukraine.