[saiya-jin]

Your argument falls apart since you deal with mobsters who don't respect any contract if it doesn't suit them. Remember pinky promises that they won't invade Ukraine just before they did it? If you keep stepping back to bullies, soon you are standing with ocean behind your back. And if you don't think russians would love ruling as much Europe as they can grab, you haven't been listening to them a single bit for past 2 decades, their ego is gigantic. We've been there for 40 years not so long ago, but maybe you weren't born yet to recall these times.

Also, this is how russia was defeated - mix of US being simply too strong and one sane russian leader who realized how bad this is (Gorbachev, he is deeply hated by all russian elites who now try to bring good ol' times back).

What you propose is a position of weakness, that leaders of russia see as a sign of weakness and will act accordingly.

I just wish all these naive commenters would spend a decade living in russia to understand what we're actually dealing with and what kind of conflict is inevitably coming to the western Europe.

[wolverine876]

You confuse 'agreeable' - admittedly an ambiguous term - with 'walkover'. You can negotiate both with strength and without being a monster yourself.

[LeroyRaz]

When agreeable was first used in the chain of comments above it was presented as the counter point to "scary." As in, you defend yourself by appearing scary to take on.

Shrewd tactful negotiation can be valuable, but I think people are mainly emphasizing the need for strength and clear emphatic boundaries, not for being a "monster."