We were talking about Europe so I apparently wasn’t specific enough. Most countries in NATO let any capacity they had for large scale land wars wither after the cold war ended since they only saw conflict in small “police actions” in far away lands as being in their future. Things like Kosovo. And, to be fair, even the Russians (Putin aside) were confident that Europe was past large land wars too.

Some of us don’t “US bad, Russia good”. We look at each individual scenario, analyze it, and come to conclusions.

Ask Qaddafi’s victims how peaceful Qaddafi was

The main problem is the three big Empires on Earth: the US, Russia, and China.

Russian escalation came because Putin was feeling the pressure from Navalny’s anti-corruption campaign and other domestic problems. His popularity was suffering and successful military operations had always improved his popularity in the past (as they do for most national leaders). Coupled that with his Imperialist ambitions and invading Ukraine seemed like a win/win to him. Domestic concerns influence Geopolitics more than geopolitical concerns do.

An Alliance so aggressive that decades of peace lulled it into such deep complacency that they let their military capabilities atrophy? You’re being a try-hard

NATO encroaching

*Free Nations previously invaded and/or dominated by Russia desperate to join the Don’t be Invaded by Russia Alliance

Utterly unimportant. I could spend all day coming up with better reasons.

The immediate issue is Russian Imperialism. US hegemony is only at play here in so far as it prevents Russian hegemony. That 2 Empires are having a pissing match should surprise no one.

You say that like there was a serious risk of nuclear war. But the issue wasn’t Ukraine, it was the rules based internation order that the US set up and benefitted from (despite also frequently breaking the rules)

The international community needs to embargo Israel, enforce a no-fly zone, send military aid to the PLO and humanitarian aid to Gaza. It’s the only thing short of “boots on the ground” that will stop the genocide

NATO support for Ukraine is summed up by a mix of “Liberal Democracies desperate cling to Rules based International Order despite hypocrisies” and “European countries with long history of being invaded and terrorized by Russia oppose countries being invaded and terrorized by Russia”

This is Trump adapting his strategy of declaring bankruptcy to the political arena. He made a big deal about how skilled his is, in truth he’s a moron and can’t deliver, now he’s washing his hands of it to avoid embarrassment.

If Ukraine fails in it’s defense, the one person I’d blame most would be Biden for being a scared timid old man slow walking aid. Trump would be number 2.

Eh, I’d wager alot of these people got seduced by self-righteous outrage. It makes people feel good about themselves.

Almost all of the people paying tribute to him didn’t care at all about him a couple weeks ago will stop caring about him completely in a few weeks.

Deliberate. And under the circumstances I’m not opposed to Poland defending their airspace against Russia. Drawing a hardline in the sand is the only way to stop people like Putin.

Broadly speaking, I don’t think folks should rush to shoot down planes. Accidents happen. But it’s naive to think these recent incursions have been accidents, especially considering how the war has everyone at a heightened state of vigilance. These aren’t casual flights, Putin is probing for weakness.