John

History over centuries is hard to boil down into a few paragraphs. I don't know how accurate your historical account is, but I suspect that it is defensible.
FWIW2U, that means that I'm incline to believe it, because you presented it.

Whatever the details may be, there is a lot of history and specific culture to deal with.

In 2025, there is a large entrenched Russian army there, that is not going away with a slap on the hand.
So...what force will it take to beat it back? Answer: A big one.
What will be the unintended consequences? Upwards to a nuclear war.

Right now, one thing that you can get a lot of Americans to agree on, regardless of party or ethnicity...is that foreign wars suck.
I've personally stood in line ordering lunch twice, behind young disfigured Black men in wheel chairs wearing Marine tee-shirts, who struggled physically to make payment for their lunch.
It's painful to watch.

I also know that your average American doesnt really give a damn about these far-away television wars or the remaining lives of the two Marines. They care about what car they drive and how many "likes" they got. But the Marines are doomed to live disabled lives.

And there is always someone ready to load SOMEONE ELSE'S American relatives into an airplane and send them 6000 miles away to get shot up.

As I said to Rob,
The best actual option possible is that Trump et al gets the killing stopped.
Putin will not stop unless he keeps some land.
So the choice is to accept that reality or pursue another one.

As for future aggression, Americans are not going full-in to stop what might happen in Eastern Europe.

Marty

Off to the gym.

https://soundcloud.com/sunset-poet-of-texas