Putin's Wars v Punic Wars

I am reading a book at the moment on the life of the great general Hannibal whose skill and courage on and off the battlefield came within a whisker of destroying the mighty Roman Empire.

I was struck by the following paragraph which made me think about more modern times and the attitude of Russia towards its former clients states, in particular Ukraine:    

"Rome, like all imperial powers, dependent upon smaller states that fell within its orbit feeling secure, and Rome was not used to her allies being defeated. Shortly after this incident (the defeat of Rome's client state of Pergamum by Bythnia) the envoys of King Prusias were summoned to Rome to explain why they were at war with Pergamum in the first place. The king had kept Hannibal's presence in his country secret, but one of the envoys was not so discreet"   

Now in addition to Ukraine there are Russian speaking people in a whole host of countries that used to be part of the old Soviet Union: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

In recent times, parts of Georgia and now Ukraine have been annexed by Russia in the same way as powerful countries or empires have behaved for centuries, and for an example how about the Roman Empire's decision to annex the former Carthaginian islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily which led to the Second Punic Wars.

Despite the fact that the world has a United nations these days and a process for settling territorial disputes peacefully, the big powers still see fit to do what they like - whenever it suits their purpose.