Russia has done it again. It has recognised the breakaway Georgian republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in direct defiance of the United States and Europe. The Russians have gone even further, saying they don't care about joining the World Trade Organistaion if the West chooses to freeze them out. They have already turned their backs on partnership with Nato and are doing everything they can to take away all the diplomatic threats the West thought it had. It is hard to see how we are on anything but an irreversible pathway to a new Cold War. The question is what will the consequences be? Will Russia win or lose in the end? And in the meantime, with Europe so dependent on Russian gas, does Moscow seem to hold all the cards?