Tony Abbott’s clarion call for action against Russia after the shooting down of the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine was, to many in Europe, almost a throwback to a different age. The 37 Australians who died when pro-Kremlin Ukrainian separatists shot down the plane on the afternoon of 17 July would probably still be alive if Vladimir Putin’s closest and most economically powerful neighbours and trading partners had taken a robust attitude towards him, and his support of separatists, when the extent of his cynical land-grab became apparent early in the northern spring this year.