While we're getting all "Christ-messy", let's not forget that there's a war going on in Ukraine which will last for a long time and which will affect us all because - surprise, surprise! - there's more going on in the world than cricket, footy, and the World Cup.
It is the worst crisis in Europe since the end of the Cold War. It marks the return of a Russia hostile to the West that is prepared to reject international norms about state sovereignty and risk confrontation with NATO. Under Putin, we can expect protracted and wider confrontation with the West.
Putin invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea because he regarded the threat of Ukraine’s membership of NATO as undermining Russia’s vital national security interests.
The strategic implications for Australia are whether Washington’s pivot to Asia will now be diverted to Europe and whether China also will be encouraged to greater territorial adventurism.
In this ANU Public Lecture Emeritus Professor Paul Dibb, Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre from 1991 to 2004, examines why President Putin decided to invade Ukraine and what the implications are for international order, including the risk of a wider war in Europe and the potential use of nuclear weapons.
For more information, also read his paper "The geopolitical implications of Russia's invasion of Ukraine".
Sorry to rain on your Christmas parade but as they say, "Lest we forget".
