The great black shadow of the Russian bear is beginning to darken the globe again. Britain seems to be the principal target of the Kremlin as the icy fingers of the cold war start to make themselves felt.
But it is good news that the Government is standing up to these bullies operating under the orders of Vladimir Putin, a former KGB boss himself.
The latest Soviet action is almost certainly part of the fall-out from the murder of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006. Britain has sought the extradition of the man they believe is responsible. The Kremlin has simply said "No".
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The Russians, showing all the worst features of their Soviet predecessors, have ordered the closure of all British Council branches in the country outside Moscow, on the ludicrous, indeed spurious, grounds that they were operating illegally.
Britain at first rejected the order and the result was that Stephen Kinnock (son of the former Labour leader, Lord Kinnock), the council's director in St Petersburg, was stopped by police in his car, accused of drink driving, arrested and then released an hour later.
Since then, Britain has agreed to suspend activities in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg in the interests of the wellbeing of the staff and following a campaign of "intimidation".
There are many ways which Britain could retaliate, but wisely, I think, the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, has decided not to go down that road - not yet anyway.
But both he and Lord Kinnock have used the strongest possible language to let the Kremlin know what the British people think of this action and what looks almost certain to be a trumped up charge against Mr Kinnock.
Probably the main reason for what Mr Putin has ordered to be done is simply to please the Russian people.
Unlike top politicians elsewhere in the world, Putin has no desire to be loved by the people, he simply wants their respect.
And the way to get that respect is for the Kremlin to start throwing its weight about as it is doing in this case.
The Russian people simply love that.
But for the free world, what a sinister and unpleasant change it is from the smiling face of Mikhail Gorbachev and the preposterous antics of the late Boris Yeltsin.
Mr Putin is not very nice to know. But standing up to bullies usually causes them to climb down.
We can simply hope that this happens on this occasion.
l Not before time the Government is moving in to crack down on websites which promote violent Muslim extremism.
It seems incredible that such websites have been able to operate until now with virtual impunity. The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith plans to use the same techniques which were employed to get rid of paedophile websites.
But this is easier said than done.
Even so, one wonders why it has taken so long even to contemplate this action.
If this works, and I hope it does, then it will have removed at least one weapon in the hands of those who are hell-bent on killing us all.
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