aggression armageddon armies army caucasus caucasus-region checkmate checks-and-balances cold-war conflict-management conflict-resolution conflicts cool-response crimea defence defences destruction-of-us diplomacy eastern-europe eastern-european end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it error errors escalation fear-of-unknown fear-quote fears fears-and-doubts force forces forces-of-darkness geopolitical-forces geopolitical-tension geopolitics historical-perspective history-repeating-itself impasse inexorably international-community international-relations international-relationships lack-of-judgement learning-from-mistakes lessons-learned lessons-learned-in-life lessons-of-life live-and-learn mexican-standoff military military-history military-quote military-theory moscow moscow-rules nato nuclear-power nuclear-proliferation nuclear-threat nuclear-weapons one-upmanship peace-on-earth peace-quote peacemaker political-commentary political-quandary political-quotes politics-observation poor-judgement poor-leadership power-struggle power-struggles quandary red-army regressing regression repeat-mistakes repeated-mistake repeating-the-past rules-of-engagement russia russian-federation sabre-rattling shiver-quote shivers sliding soviet-occupation soviet-russia soviet-union sphere-of-influence spine-chilling stalemate standoff struggles-quotes super-powers tension treaty troops ukraine warfare warmonger wars weapons-of-mass-destruction