Is Putin about to attack Ukraine?

While the world remains beset with coronavirus, Vladimir Putin seems to be sneakily up to no good. Thousands of troops and tanks and armoured vehicles have been sent to the border with Ukraine and it doesn't look like an exercise. Is Putin planning a military offensive and, if so, what will Biden and Nato do about it? The phone has been ringing between Washington and Kyev and between Washington and Moscow. Austin Lloyd, US defence secretary, General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Antony Blinken, secretary of state, and Jake Sullivan, national security adviser, have all been on the phone calling their counterparts and basically asking the same question. What the hell is going on? Milley spoke to General Gerasimov, the Russian military chief, an old stager, and, according to the Pentagon, the two men discussed a series of topics of mutual interest. Hahaha. As I said, Milley demanded to know what Gerasimov was playing at. Gerasimov no doubt tried to indicate that it was just routine manouevres but no one will be fooled by that. Now Joe Biden has decided that he should also get in on the act and he phoned the Ukrainian president this morning, Volodymyr Zelensky. No dout to tell him that the US was firmly behind him and was watching the situation very closely. But it's what happens next that's important. The US and Nato are not going to go to war with Russia over Ukraine, so apart from heavy phone calls and talk of more sanctions against individual Russian military types and selling more arms to Ukraine, it's difficult to see what Biden can do. After all, Nato did nothing - apart from sanctions - when Putin annexed Crimea, and did nothng - apart from sanctions - when Putin took over two provinces in Georgia. So if the Russian troops cross the border and the tanks start to roll over the frontier, will Biden and Nato rush to Ukraine's rescue? No. Putin will be counting on that. But then again you never know with Putin. He might pull back at the last moment and pretend it was all a storm in a teacup. But he will know that the newish US president will have lost some sleep over Moscow's dangerous game-playing and that will be a satisfactory outcome for the Russian president who likes to throw his weight around.