That is in fact, the US policy we have been following for most of my life - to balkanize Russia.
Only we get to be a superpower. No one else.
Mackinder, Ziggy, and the Rand report are good reading if you don’t believe me.
Oh, I understand that US policy is driven by people who are mad that the Czar was mean to their ancestors, and therefore what you describe as "balkanization" is the goal. I also understand that Ukraine is just a tool.
But the gamble carries such high stakes!
I am a nationalist and an isolationist, so to me this is undistilled madness and nothing else.