On the conflict between Putin's Russia and the West

On the conflict with Russia - Putin needs Ukraine for real power in Eurasia: There is a power-play between the West and Russia because Eurasia is very important on a global scale. He who controls Eurasia, controls the world. Let's hope for diplomatic solutions, not war.

[...] "Eurasia is thus the chessboard on which the struggle for global primacy continues to be played, and that struggle involves geostrategy - the strategic management of geopolitical interest. It is noteworthy that as recently as 1940 two aspirants to global power, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, agreed explicitly (in the secret negotiations of November that year) that America should be excluded from Eurasia. Each realised that the injection of American power into Eurasia would prelude ambitions regarding global domination. Each shared the assumption that Eurasia is the center of the world and that he who controls Eurasia controls the world. A half century later, the issue has been redefined: will America's primacy in Eurasia endure, and to what ends might it be applied?
The ultimate objective of American policy should be benign and visionary: to shape a truly cooperative global community,in keeping with long-range trends and with the fundamental interests in mankind. But in the meantime, it is imperative that no Euresian challenger emerges, capable of dominating Eurasia and thus also of challenging America. The formulation of a comprehensinve and integrated Eurasian geostrategy is therefore the purpose of this book."

Zbigniew Brzezinski
The Grand Chessboard
http://www.takeoverworld.info/Grand_Chessboard.pdf