“They are flying in reinforcements and they are settling in,” one senior official said. Another senior official said: “Russian forces now have complete operational control of the Crimean peninsula.” On Monday, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said he had discussed Ukraine with his Chinese counterpart and their views coincided on the situation there.

Asked how the US and its allies might respond, Kerry stressed the economic harm that could befall Russia if it continued its occupation of Crimea, but repeatedly said “all options” were under consideration. However, in a conference call with reporters later on Sunday, three senior US administration officials made clear that the “menu” of options before the White House does not include military action.

Troops in unmarked uniforms have started guarding the region’s main airport. They’re being assisted by some local people. After all, they’re just there to help. At the same time, Russian troops are flying in to help resist what Moscow is calling the 'Nazis’ who have taken over the government of Ukraine.

This is tragic for Ukraine, for the near-abroad and for NATO not because it is taking us by surprise but because we have expected it for so long and seen it before and yet remain incapable of acting. This is the salami-tactics that ‘Yes, Prime Minister’ [UK comedy series about government] joked about decades ago. Slice by slice, Russia is invading Ukraine and weakening the alliance that has kept the peace in Europe for almost 70 years.

But that is not an end in itself. For Russia this is also about rebuilding the buffer. That was the purpose of the Soviet Bloc, which has been eaten away by NATO’s spread East. Each Russian soldier in Crimea is lessening the chance of a united Ukraine emerging unscathed and without a civil war. They are 'proving’ to our Eastern allies that NATO is a paper tiger and to our Western friends that this is a pointless struggle. That is President Putin’s real goal.

He urged Ukraine and Russia to hold talks and suggested Russia's membership of the G8 could be under threat, Vladimir Putin has said Russia reserves the right to protect its interests. Ukraine has ordered a full military mobilisation in response to Russia's build-up of forces on the Crimean peninsula, which was part of Russia until 1954.

Number 10 [the UK Prime Minister] has ruled out military intervention, saying the "only avenue that is being pursued is a diplomatic and peaceful one". Mr Hague, who travelled to Kiev on Sunday to meet the new Ukrainian government, told the BBC that Russia had "legitimate" interests in the region. But he said its actions were unacceptable and required a "strong" response from the international community.

"The Jews have no special fondness for the Ukrainians,” noted Eldad, adding that this did not begin with Bohdan Khmelnitzky, the 17th century Cossak leader under whom tens of thousands of Jews were murdered – nor did it end with the SS guards who murdered Jews in the Nazi death camps. And yet, he said, Israel should not be indifferent to the fact that Russia is gearing up to invade the Ukraine.

“After the Soviet Union broke up, the world suddenly realized that the Ukraine had become a nuclear power”, he explained. “Hundreds of nuclear warheads were stored on its territory, ready for use.”

"In a quick diplomatic move, the US and Britain signed an agreement with Ukraine for the disarming of all its nuclear weapons, in exchange for a signed contract that said that the two powers would guarantee Ukraine's intactness and security, and are committed to intervening if and when its intactness is threatened.”

“Today, Russia is threatening. It would seem that the US and Britain should send armies to the Ukraine, to prevent a Russian invasion or repulse it. It is clear that Britain and the US have no intention of doing so. Russia knows this well, and that is why it is clear that the western powers will ignore the security guarantees it gave Ukraine, and allow Russia to run the crumbling Ukrainian state from outside or from within.”

Hinting at the situation in Ukraine, where the Russians have, despite American protests, sent troops to Crimea, Bennett said that Israel dared not trust anyone else for its defense. “We must not do anything that will harm our security,” he said. “If we are not for ourselves, no one will be for us,” he said, paraphrasing the famous quote attributed to the Jewish sage Hillel. “At the moment of truth no one will stand up for us. At the end of the day all we have is the IDF.”

Although the US is a good friend, “we do not have to automatically accept everything they push. It is not always the best thing for us. The job of the government of Israel is to look out for the interests of Israel.”

“You just don’t invade another country on phony pretexts in order to assert your interests,” John Kerry said during an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press. “This is an act of aggression that is completely trumped up in terms of its pretext. It’s really 19th century behaviour in the 21st century.” Kerry has also threatened to isolate Russia economically and politically and warned of potential asset freezes and visa bans, adding to media and political hype that followed Russian authorization to send a stabilization force to Crimea on official request from the authorities.

“There could be certainly disruption of any of the normal trade routine, there could be business drawback on investment in the country,” he said. “There could even be ultimately asset freezes, visa bans.” Although Kerry was never challenged by the interviewer to comment in terms of that statement on Washington’s own constant threats to use force and military invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan, those who watched the interview immediately smelled the hypocrisy.

“Since when does the United States government genuinely subscribe and defend the concept of sovereignty and territorial integrity? They certainly are not doing that at the moment in Syria,” Marcus Papadopoulos, commentator for ‘Politics First’ told RT. “They certainly did not do that when they attacked Libya. They certainly didn’t do that when they invaded Iraq. They certainly didn’t do that when they attacked Serbia over Kosovo and then later on recognized Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence. The United States government merely pays lip service to sovereignty and territorial integrity, it picks and choses.”

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Winston Churchill called for the creation of a "United States of Europe" to bind France and Germany together. In doing so, he made clear that Britain would be a supportive but independent partner of any such entity. He famously said: ‘We are with Europe but not of it’.

In the end, Britain did join the European Economic Community but only in 1973, 15 years after the Treaty of Rome was signed. They joined the Social Chapter in 1997, eight years after it was adopted by other member states. And they never signed up to Economic and Monetary Union or the Schengen Agreement on common borders.

In other words: Britain was always a bit late to the party. But once it found its way to Belgium, Britain had an uncanny knack of winning the big strategic battles. It is therefore a puzzle that the current British government has diverted its attention from winning the next round of key policy debates in Brussels and, instead, focused on a pointless exercise of seeking treaty change to repatriate powers. Britain should stop wasting its time with this futile endeavour and concentrate on aligning the EU's institutions with an agenda of growth and democracy.