By Rab Bruce’s Spider

Russia seems to have played into NATO’s hands by entering the Syrian conflict. Following on from the annexation of Crimea and the intervention in the Ukraine, Russia is once again the big boogie man. We can expect the BBC and Tory newspapers to run more articles about Russian aircraft flying in international air space near Britain’s borders any time now, just to make sure we all understand that Russia is a major threat to our safety.

But hold on a moment. Let’s try a little "What if?" scenario. Russia used to have troops based in Germany. That was seen as a threat. But how would the UK react if, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the countries of Europe had decided they wanted to voluntarily become allies of Russia and had asked Russia to send troops to help them guard against aggression from the UK? What if Russian troops were based in France?

Can you imagine the horror? The demands for war would be deafening because having a perceived enemy on your borders would be potentially cataclysmic, almost as bad as Scotland becoming independent.

Now look at the reality. The Soviet Union used to control Eastern Europe and had a number of buffer states to protect its own borders and keep their perceived enemies, i.e. NATO, at a distance. But since the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO troops are now based right on Russia’s borders. Don’t you think the Russians are just a little bit concerned about this?

And now NATO is sabre-rattling because Russia has come to the aid of its ally in Syria, President Assad. Now, whatever you think of Assad or ISIS, Russia is doing no more than the USA has done. So, while it is true that Putin has been pushing things as far as he dares, a look at the map of Europe shows that it is Russia, not NATO, which feels most threatened. NATO troops are on its borders, NATO ships patrol the Baltic and the Black Sea and NATO aircraft fly close to Russia’s airspace far, far more frequently than Russian bombers fly near the UK. And history shows us that Russia knows only one way to deal with a perceived threat and that is to flex its military muscles. Seen in that light, the Crimean and Ukrainian expansions are perhaps understandable even if they cannot be condoned.

There is no easy solution to maintaining world peace and there certainly isn’t an easy solution to the problems in the Middle East but we all need to be aware that the British media will be presenting a very one-sided picture of events. Don’t forget that NATO’s sole purpose is to oppose Russia. Without Russia, the organisation has no value. That’s why we can expect a ramping up of the anti-Russian propaganda over the next few days and weeks. Let’s just hope that Messrs. Obama and Cameron take a leaf out of Jeremy Corbyn’s book and keep their fingers off that button.