Today's crisis in Ukraine is nothing new and there are chilling similarities with the situation of 1853, where the Great Powers of the day confronted each other in the same region. There is much that today's leaders can learn from this part of history.

For the first time in many years, the cohesion of NATO is genuinely threatened and the major threats may not come from the more traditional adversaries. Uncertain times lie ahead.

It may appear that the recent airstrikes in Syria will have little effect on the Syrian Regime and its backers of Iran and Russia. Yet there were very good reasons why they occurred, and why they should have their desired effect.

One hundred years on from the defeat and break up of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey is back on the world stage. How should the US, EU and NATO react to that ambition?