A buffer is _nobody's_ right. Not Russia's, not the US, _nobody_. Ukraine, Vietnam, you name it - those people aren't anybody's buffer, and no one has any right

A buffer is _nobody's_ right. Not Russia's, not the US, _nobody_. Ukraine, Vietnam, you name it - those people aren't anybody's buffer, and no one has any right to speak of them that way. It's not up to Russia _or_ the US to decide these things. It's up to the citizens of Ukraine. This is what Russia fundamentally doesn't respect, but Europe and the West fundamentally does. Yes, the US has done some horrible things in the past (see: Vietnam, somewhat less so Iraq), but Russia believes in "buffers" regardless of the desire of the inhabitants of those buffers, whereas the West believes (however imperfectly in practice) that countries should be self-determining. In a way, the best proof of this is Europe's response to this invasion: at first, nobody was willing to get involved. When it became clear that Ukrainians themselves were fully committed to remaining sovereign, then the influx of cash and materiel began.