The annexation of Crimea by Russia is not the beginning of the Cold War, it is perhaps Russia trying to show power.

Some United Nations (U.N.) member countries, including the U.S., and the European Union (EU) have publicly condemned Russia's insurgency into Crimea. Even NATO, and the U.N. General Assembly are getting involved.

President Barack Obama stated that Russia had no right to the annexation of Crimea, The Washington Post reported. Two million people live in Crimea, and 60 percent see themselves as ethnically Russian, and therefore speak Russian; there are also ethnic Ukrainians, as well as 300,000 Crimean Tatars.

On March 27, the U.N. General Assembly voted that the Russian annexation of Ukraine's Crimea is illegal. One hundred U.N. countries voted in favor of this resolution, the US News reported. Ukraine has a lot of sympathy among the U.N. member states.

According to a March 28 article, The New World Order, in The Economist, Obama must lead and not cooperate when it comes to Russia. This is perhaps one of the best ways to deal with the current situation before it escalates into something like the Cold War. The Soviet collapse ushered in a decade of unchallenged supremacy for the U.S., and the aggressive assertion of American values. In other words, post-Soviet order has meaning.

The Economist also recommends that the rest of the world get involved. The March 28 article, The Talk of the Town, in The New Yorker agrees. The Economist recommends that France should withhold its arm sales to Russia, while The New Yorker opts for non-military tactics against Russia. They recommend that the countries of the West use money, diplomacy and political support and pushing for a successful election in a stable Ukraine.

As for NATO, Russia does not seem readily open to joining at this time.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wrongly believes that NATO has never ceased to be an American-dominated alliance aimed at keeping Russia down. In fact, it has proved highly adaptable and has tried hard to enlist Russia as a partner. NATO may not yet know how to handle the threat posed by Putin's Russia. But it has overcome greater challenges before.

A former national security adviser for U.S. Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush stated that Putin wants to be seen as a strong power, and that Putin's attempted control over Crimea is him nursing a grudge against NATO at the end of the Cold War, the Voice of America reported.

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