I agree with you about the timing, but I’m just not convinced it has anything to do with NATO. Russia absolutely has created a point of maximum pressure with ga

I agree with you about the timing, but I’m just not convinced it has anything to do with NATO. Russia absolutely has created a point of maximum pressure with gas, with the US standing in the world, with Nordstream 2. But I don’t believe it would have behaved differently if NATO were smaller. It’s simply a matter of them building for war for decades. I also don’t think you can make the argument that the better response was to make neutral. It’s not up to external people to make Ukraine neutral. It’s up to Ukraine to decide how they want to align themselves. I’m not surprised they decided against aligning with the country that keeps on invading them.