Russia's President Putin is not too impressed. The West has signaled to him that Ukraine is a lost cause. Sure, they talk of more sanctions upon Russia and arming their ally but that's all it will remain: talk.
Moscow has sized up its opponents better than its opponents have sized up Russia. And its confident of holding the upper hand.
And in return for the West's obliging complaisance? The Kremlin will try not too gloat too much.
Besides, the King of America is on your side, Vlad.
Haven’t you been opposing all of our actions and efforts to date, while you have been supporting Putin and the invasion?
As Churchill said after the Munich agreement:
Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonour. They chose dishonour. They will have war.
How the mighty have fallen. It was once Margaret Thatcher, The Pope, Ronald Reagan, and Helmut Kohl stared down the thugs in Moscow and collapsed their communist tyranny.
Now, it’s Obama. We can’t do it all so don’t bother trying. Will Obama apply this logic to his poverty pimp programs? Are we going to stop giving welfare to single mothers of 15 babies because she is still poor? How about dumping billions and billions of aid to Africa. They are more backwards than ever.
The Ukraine is a large country, with a big population and it’s own arms industry. Only a small portion is in pro-Russian hands. I don’t see any reason the Ukrainians can’t bleed Russia dry, if they continue to have the will to fight. Meanwhile Russia’s economy is in free-fall with Putin forced to blame imaginary speculators. He’s still popular because he controls the media, but that can only last so long before reality sets in.
It's not that the West is weak but rather the West is insufficiently motivated to embark on what will most certainly become World War III over a small regional conflict in a part of the world Westerners hold little interest.
Those beating the drums for war often trot out the tired line, "Have you forgotten 1938?" Maybe the problem isn't that we have forgotten 1938 but that we remember 1914 all too well.