The Ukraine in Crisis-2

Russia despite being reduced to one country still have enormous influence on world stage and now with China taking sides with them on Ukraine, things get a bit complicated. Russia's support is crucial in securing deals in Syria, Iran and even in the Middle East and their cooperation is also essential in combating terrorism. And in response to the Russian actions in Ukraine, the U.S. is severely limited in its ability to do anything militarily. Europe is still more out of the question since they are very fractured and dependent upon Russia's energy to power their homes in winter especially. It seems to me another of the Cold war scenario with much less rhetoric as both the U.S. and the Russian don’t want to start a new Cold war but there will always be some area of influence that both would like to keep. The U.S. backyard is South America and as the Russians has made it perfectly clear, theirs is Ukraine and other nearby countries whose population is historically and culturally linked to the former Soviet Union. And that is exactly what is happening, the Russian still want to retain or are adamant that their sphere of influence includes all the states which were part of the former Soviet Union and they don’t want the West to encroach on it economically or militarily. Right now the West is unable to do anything but it can change if Russia formally invades Ukraine and there are heavy casualties. But what if there is an invasion what the west can do, it is unable or unwilling to take on the huge Russian Military without triggering a nuclear war nobody wants to be involved in.