Perhaps David Cameron and Barack Obama knew something when they didn't attend peace talks with Vladimir Putin when Angela Merkle and Francois Hollande went to peace talks in Russia.
It seems as with Neville Chamberlain who flew back to Britain waving around a piece of paper at the airfield saying "Peace in our time" when he thought he had acheived a peaceful accord with Adolf Hitler and it turned out that Chamberlain had been taken in by Hitler and shortly after war broke out leading to the coming to power of Winston Churchill with Neville Chamberlain resigning in disgrace so it seems Merkle and Hollande have been taken in by Vladimir Putin.
Am I surprised well no not really, I kind of hoped that the ceasefire would hold but as with many ceasefires something breaks down and one side blames the other as was the case last year with the Israeli - Gaza conflict.
What are the possible motivations of Vladimir Putin in his continued backing of the pro - Russian rebels in Ukraine, plus other aggressive acts such as his bombers flying near British airspace. Is Putin looking for war with the west, it is difficult to psycho - analyse someone like Putin from afar but like many dictators he shows the classic case of being the strong macho man wanting to be seen to be in control whether it be his Judo or his riding a horse stripped to the waist not unlike Saddam Hussain when he used to swim the width of the river Euphrates, bodyguards in attendence.
At the recent G20 meetings in Australia Vladimir Putin was shunned by world leaders and left the meeting early on a plane bound for Moscow because of his rank aggression. Compare that with the recent journey to Egypt by Putin when he met Egyptian president Al Sisi and the rapturous welcome he received there.
Russia is not the power it was as compared to the days of the Soviet Union, however, Russia is enough of a power to worry the west as its armed forces are still quite large and it has an extensive nuclear arsenal which no doubt it would use if it came to it and Mr Putin could be the man to use such weapons as his actions whether it be the seizing of the Crimea or backing the rebels in Ukraine pertain to a man who means business.
Where do we go from here with the Merkle - Hollande - Putin peace talks now apparently in tatters, one thing is for sure we face an uncertain scenario from this moment on.