I'm writing this column on Thursday 3 March as Russian tanks continue their advance towards Kyiv and seem to have entered Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city.
The distressing scenes of the dead, the wounded, the frightened and the fleeing is enough to remind everyone of the horrors of modern conflict and how widespread such horrors reverberate.
Let me be absolutely clear that, the direct and sole responsibility for this crisis lies at the door of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. Any lingering sympathy a neutral person might have had for the situation of Ukraine's Russian-speaking communities in the east of the country. has been undermined by the sight of Russian attacks across the country.
This is a war of aggression designed to neutralise a previously independent neighbour.
My sympathies go out to those folks here in the UK with friends and relatives in Ukraine. The situation must be horrifically worrying for them.
But all of the events of the last few weeks or so, do beg the question: how did we get to this point?
In essence, I think that as much as Putin's excessive need for security, it is also a stunning failure of both Western diplomacy and its failure to promote free trade policies.
Tsarist, Soviet or Putinesque Russia has alternated between periods of wishing to embrace the West and periods of revanchism.
The sad heritage of history is that the West's own insecurities have meant that we have never really engaged with the opportunities presented by the first type of regime.
As Rod Liddle, hardly a Putin apologist, has written recently "we have behaved badly towards Russia.....invading it from time to time, otherwise meddling perfidiously in its affairs and always refusing to allow the Russians what, periodically, they yearn for - to be accepted as part of the civilised western world."
The British diplomatic culture, which to this day is dominated by public school types and cultures, has the most appalling track record of mismanaging Anglo-Russian relations. We have failed to engage when Russia wishes to be engaged with, and failed to prepare a robust response when they are in their wounded bear mode.
Perhaps some readers might think I've got a little bit 'woke' on this topic. But the facts speak for themselves. Did you know that on at least three occasions - 1954, 1991 and again under Putin himself in the early years of this century - Russia proposed that it be allowed to join NATO?
Every time, this was airily dismissed, including by British diplomats, without any serious thought or discussions.
But where diplomacy fails, do you know what succeeds in building mutual trust and cooperation? The answer is clear: trade and trade as free and as unfettered as possible between nations.
It is a self-evident truth that the more the prosperity between nations depends on the free and equal flow of goods and services, on the basis of their respective competitive advantage, the less likely it is that they will risk a conflict.
So what has happened in recent years to Anglo-Russian trade? According to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade, exports to Russia have fallen steadily from $US8bn in 2011 to little more than a quarter of that by 2020. This accounts for little more than 1% of total UK trade.
By contrast, the value of Russian exports to the West, principally oil, gas, precious metals and grain has grown over that time and is now more than $US12bn.
Of course, this value disparity reflects the recent surge in raw material prices, but this does not account for the decline in UK exports. The fact that a free trade deal with Russia is placed on the same level as one with Vanuatu, ie vanishingly unimportant, is an indictment of successive UK Governments, as much as its their Russian equivalents.
This cliff edge difference between what Russia buys from us and what we sell to it, appears to be replicated in many other Western countries. It certainly hasn't been helped by the protectionist European Union's speedy expansion into eastern Europe which has certainly alarmed Moscow.
Having freed ourselves from the tutelage of Brussels, my hope is that the UK Government, once the current emergency is over, will be at the forefront of opening grown-up free trade negotiations with Russia.
Of course, the West partly has only itself to blame for the current trading imbalance with Russia, especially regarding its energy dependence on the latter.
The anti-nuclear power movement across Europe has been gathering pace in recent years, most notably in Germany which is well advanced in its plans to shut down all of its stations.
Such a decision, of course, makes the trade imbalance with Russia even greater, ensuring that the leverage of the West is much reduced. Without the Nordstream 2 pipeline, Germany for one would probably be reduced to a three-day week.
Thank goodness that the British government is made of sterner stuff regarding its investment in new nuclear build. After Hinckley Point C, I'm more and more confident that Sizewell C here in Suffolk will be given the thumbs up. Which is good for us certainly, but also good for a more mutually equal and beneficial relationship with Russia.
And before any readers start accusing me of appeasement, let me repeat for a second time, the direct and sole responsibility for this crisis lies at the door of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.
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