[Rockingham]

Keep in mind that in return for Ukraine giving up its post-Soviet nuclear stockpile, Russia pledged not to use force against Ukraine, a promise that was endorsed by the US and NATO. In my view, Putin and Russia were indulged far too long in their aggression against Ukraine, with the result that much of the world is drawing a dangerous lesson: against aggressive neighbors, nukes are the way to go, not pledges of help from the US and other powers.

As for the US being broke, that raises an issue that intersects with the Ukraine war in one respect that is little mentioned: the role of the dollar as the global trade and reserve currency. That is what permits the US to finance its massive public debt with foreign borrowing.

No small part of the reason for the dollar's value is that the US is a global military and political power. Maintaining that role and the dollar's value implicitly requires that we act as the global policeman against economically disruptive aggression. And, contrary to what you seem to think, the cost of helping Ukraine is a pittance compared to the value to the US of the dollar's role as a trade and reserve currency.

[ReaganGeneration2]

“No small part of the reason for the dollar’s value is that the US is a global military and political power. Maintaining that role and the dollar’s value implicitly requires that we act as the global policeman against economically disruptive aggression.”

That is precisely the problem, and the source of the impending decades-in-coming economic collapse and, quite possibly, the deaths of hundreds of millions of souls in a nuclear war - which would’ve been driven by madmen like Biden, Putin, and Zelensky and their own unmoderated guesses and assumptions about “disruptive aggression” and intent. But thanks for the candor, boomer.