Why in the world is the Ukraine a “vital national security interest”?
There are some fairly rich countries in that neighborhood that have far more of an interest than the US. Lets see them step up first.
Ukriane isn’t a vital US national interest, it sits right on the Russian border, and much of it was traditionally Russian from the days of the Kievan Rus. Starting to hear a bit on this site of the old John McCain “We are all Ukrainians” now. Not me, let William Kristol lead the volunteers to the battle lines.
With the Ukrainian wheat and farm products, the old Soviet Union would not have enough food. Russia lacks adequate dependable farming year in and out. Hence the US-Russian Wheat Deal in 1970s, causing the price of wheat products like a loaf of bread in the US to more than double as the price increased. That wheat deal probably kept the USSR in line at the time from waging aggression.
Putin is trying to revive the USSR. He and his old guard were mid-level officials.
Additionally, it reported that Putin personally killed 83 Germans during his stay in East Germany. One reported incident is that he was brought into a KGB intelligence room for prisoners where three men were seated. Putin told them he was going to give them one chance to tell him what he wanted to know, and that he was only going to ask once before they all would be executed. He asked them the question, and when none spoke he pulled out his revolver and shot the man on the right. Both remaining began to speak and told him what he wanted; then he shot them both because they didn’t speak up the first time. THIS IS WHY BUSH KNEW THE EYES OF PUTIN....