[sinsofsolarempirefan]

I don’t believe the UK would be supporting Ukraine the way it is if the US was not also. Other NATO members follow the US lead.

That said, I agree with supporting Ukraine, despite Russia’s nuclear sabre rattling. If we allow nuclear rogue states to use that threat to give them almost complete freedom of action they might get the idea that they can get away with anything short of a direct attack on a nuclear armed state. At that point you can kiss goodbye to the nuclear proliferation treaty. Every nation state will be rushing to get nukes to protect themselves, and in the longer term this will only increase the dangers of a nuclear war because the last thing we need is more nukes in the hands of unstable regimes that could be run or taken over by millinarian religious nutcases in say, the middle east.

[Alvin Diogenes]

I agree, except I'd be inclined to say that it's primarily because of Russia's nuclear sabre rattling, not despite it. Russia has shown that its conventional forces are too weak to be a threat to the US. But that makes their nuclear posturing that much more dangerous, since non-conventional weapons are really their only strength right now.

I don't think the US has any specific interest in Ukraine. We do have an interest in stopping the creep of Russian aggression -- and the only way to stop a bully is to stand up to him. (Ignoring or minimizing the threats won't make them go away; in fact, they'll become increasingly worse over time.)