I'm in shock that in the 21st century there is a land war in Europe. I thought those days would never come again. This will signal the start of another cold war, with Russia and China on one side, and everyone else on the other. Considering their economic power, if China truly takes up Russia's cause, it could be very bleak for the West. This war will be fought with economies and sanctions, not bullets and trenches.

Putin's tactics remind me of the start of WWII, and that's not a cheerful fact either. His takeover of the Crimea has echoes of the Sudetenland, and the current invasion of Ukraine is like Germany's takeover of Czechoslovakia. It's a very different world now, and having the US and it's allies challenge Russia in a land war is unlikely, thanks to "mutually assured destruction." My heart goes out to the people of Ukraine, who will suffer and die for Putin's agenda. Expect another mass refuge crisis, too.

And all of this comes at a time when nearly every major nation in the western alliance is deeply divided by culture wars, some of which are raging right here on this message board. It's a fact that Russian and Chinese hackers are manipulating social media to drive people to the hard left or hard right, so our nations will likely not have united support to oppose Russian aggression.

The former US President just called Putin's tactics brilliant and wonderful, and he's likely to be the next POTUS again. It's no secret he's in Putin's pocket, which is likely the ace in the hole that Putin is counting on. When Trump is back, a policy of appeasement will follow, and it will be Neville Chamberlain all over again.

Where I grew up, there was a huge Ukrainian population (whose ancestors fled from Stalin's famine and ended up in Canada). They are a warm, wonderful people from a beautiful culture. It makes me sick to think of what they are going through this morning, and what they will go through in the years to come.