It is key to see Sino-Russian cooperation not as primarily a values-based relationship, but rather a pragmatic cooperation initiative underpinned by shared authoritarian values.

The UK’s unwillingness to risk military conflict with Russia is understandable. Corbyn’s justification for non-intervention is much less so.

The emergence of the EEU as a counterweight to the EU, US, and China poses a direct challenge to the efforts of much of the international community since the fall of the Soviet Union.

We should hope these new challenges in Ukraine and in the south with ISIS will strengthen the alliance once more for the future – a future with a potentially bigger challenge involving the economic and military rise of China.

States must stand against those who hijack it, however, by its very nature, R2P is a political tool and tensions exist with the ideological nature of international law.

The key prerequisite for any future move towards a more co-operative relationship – that both sides are genuinely interested in bringing the current tension to an end – appear increasingly remote.

All the money, good governance and reforms in the world will come to little if Ukraine is dismembered by Russia and its allies in the east of the country.

Over the past year, Turkey has taken several stances against what have otherwise been broadly held Western policy positions.

During the course of the next 12 months, we could easily see development in one or more of these threats: a total meltdown in Iraq and neighbouring Middle Eastern states; a nuclear Iran, toward which Israel might well lose its patience, in the absence of meaningful American support; and a renewed Russian campaign against the rest of Ukraine, or even a Baltic state or two

The grounds for an alliance between European far right and Russia have been motivated by and shaped along the lines of opposition and counteraction to the idea of a “common enemy” in the EU and the US.