| > if Ukraine was a thorn in the Kremlin's side If Ukraine was THE thorn in the Kremlin's side... vs one point in a constellation of concerns including undermining NATO [0], weakening the EU [1], weakening the US, affirming nationalist authoritarianism vs social democracy, etc etc. > it would have been rational for Russia to stabilize the issue with an invasion If invasions didn't have any risks and consequences (even absent US intervention). And at this point, it sure looks like those risks and consequences are on full display even if we only look at the military action. Meanwhile 3 years ago it actually looked plausible that the US could be forced into having to sacrifice either aid to Ukraine or the candidate that eventually beat Trump. > discredited media stories notwithstanding. "discredited" needs citation. Especially considering that the introductory set of articles I linked to above isn't even the short list. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/03/us/politics/trump-nato-wi...
[1] https://france-amerique.com/en/trump-has-done-everything-he-... |