You're not wrong, but I'm not sure how else it could have turned out. War between the US and Russia has been avoided for a reason. Perhaps if they were a part o

You're not wrong, but I'm not sure how else it could have turned out. War between the US and Russia has been avoided for a reason. Perhaps if they were a part of NATO, which carries the serious threat of equating an attack on any member as an attack against all members. But of course everything Russia has done in Ukraine over the last 10 years has been in an effort to stop any remote chance of Ukrainian membership in NATO, to avoid that very problem. Some blame NATO expansion as "triggering" Russia, but honestly, what does Russia expect after occupying Eastern Europe for 50 years. Those Eastern European countries don't want a return to that. Harsh, autocratic Soviet policies guaranteed antagonism.