Ukraine would've joined NATO. [1]
There was no reason for the US to contemplate, if not to pursue, Ukraine to be joining NATO.
Could you consider the collective panic and US reaction if a bordering state were to join the CSTO for example ?
Coups have been performed in countries much farther for much less. [2]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine%E2%80%93NATO_relations...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r...
That's just speculation. Germany has vetoed Ukraine's accession in 2008 and their position was not changed until this war. Same for France.
> Could you consider the collective panic and US reaction if a bordering state were to join the CSTO for example ?
I think US is wise enough to not annex parts of its neighbors to provoke such a reaction.
… So what? Latvia and Estonia have been in NATO for ages.
Would Poland, by the same token, be justified in invading Belarus?
That's just speculation. Germany has vetoed Ukraine's accession in 2008 and their position was not changed until this war. Same for France.
> Could you consider the collective panic and US reaction if a bordering state were to join the CSTO for example ?
I think US is wise enough to not annex parts of its neighbors to provoke such a reaction.