Surprised more people aren't familiar with this stuff.
I assumed from the onset that at the very least, regardless of anything else, the US would just pour money and weapons into UA to create an Afghanistan-style quagmire for Russia and either force them to appear to be pulling out without having met their objectives (create terrible optics at home and abroad). That's more or less why I was so surprised that Putin actually did it. It seemed like a really obvious bait, but then again you can never assume the NATO/US powers haven't also lost the plot and might actually let UA join NATO. Sometimes after a few years these ghouls seem to forget what is part of the show and what they're actually supposed to be doing. At least that happened to neoconservatives.
Surprised more people aren't familiar with this stuff.
I assumed from the onset that at the very least, regardless of anything else, the US would just pour money and weapons into UA to create an Afghanistan-style quagmire for Russia and either force them to appear to be pulling out without having met their objectives (create terrible optics at home and abroad). That's more or less why I was so surprised that Putin actually did it. It seemed like a really obvious bait, but then again you can never assume the NATO/US powers haven't also lost the plot and might actually let UA join NATO. Sometimes after a few years these ghouls seem to forget what is part of the show and what they're actually supposed to be doing. At least that happened to neoconservatives.