I'm most certainly not an isolationist. But Russia is a huge, somewhat sparsely populated country surrounded by strong, dangerous neighbors. For hundreds of years Russia has been very sensitive to border states that it sees as potential threats. At the moment it has three threats: (1) the European Union and NATO, which could be at its doorstep if Ukraine continues to move towards the West (just as would have happened w/Georgia prior to the 2008 war), (2) Islamic extremism both within Russia and in the neighboring Stans and (3) China. Russia has been actively threatened by #1 and #2 -- and simply lacks the ability to do much of anything about #3 except beef up its nuclear deterrent. However angry Putin's actions make us, they are consistent with a long Russian tradition of perceived self interest in creating buffer states between it and potential external threats.
To be clear, I don't think Russia's invasion of Ukraine is morally defensible but it's neither surprising nor a sign that Putin is about to send tank brigades into the Fulda Gap and start World War III.
At the moment it has three threats: (1) the European Union and NATO, which could be at its doorstep if Ukraine continues to move towards the West (just as would have happened w/Georgia prior to the 2008 war)
Hogwash. NATO is only on Russia’s border because Russians have a nasty habit of periodically murdering their neighbors. Naturally, the neighboring countries of Russia do not want to be under Russian hegemony. We can see how much of a threat the EU is to Russia. Putin is busy committing war crimes, invading his neighbors with a fifth column and the EU has done NOTHING.
Good post...I think it was obvious from the beginning that EU and US would have little ability or desire to do much about this. Unfortunately, and once again, Ukrainians failed to recognize that they themselves have to gain their freedom...and they will never have the financial backing nor military to accomplish that.