Why not join NATO, its practically free if you are not the USA
NATO should stop it’s expansion at this point. A neutral Ukraine ends this entire mess more than likely. NATO blundered about for thirty years with no mission and it kept poking the bear needlessly until the bear responded in 2008 and Bush and Obama did nothing.
There should be no appeasement of Ivan, but to recklessly and unnecessarily provoke him is just as stupid. The US foreign policy establishment has been an utter disaster since Reagan left office. It’s based on leftist and neocon idiocy which doesn’t fly in the real world. We end up in endless wars which are not in our interests and we foolishly build up a real enemy in the far east at our own people’s expense.