In the months since the news of the crisis in Ukraine first broke, media outlets have followed a conflict that has gone from an internal matter to one that is international in scope.

The date was November 9, 1989. George Bush Sr. sat in the oval office, a host of senior intelligence officers before him.

It was pitch black and a frigid -30 degrees when we began our descent. What meagre light we had came from beat up headlamps and the muted glow of stars.

One sunny afternoon, Paul Moroz, our Deputy CIO, was driving along the highway when he spotted an unusual road sign: Caution: low flying planes. Now, Paul is a mildly paranoid man in the best of times.

The man in front of me wore a peculiar tweed jacket that matched his charismatic, if quirky, personality.

It was my 5 year old son’s first hockey session with the Timbits program. The kids all had white stickers on each side of their helmet, marking them with a unique number for “the scouts. ”