You are ignoring causation. The explanation by the West for Putin’s invasion is he decided in 2022 he decided to begin the campaign to conquer all of Europe and the explanation for the timing is that Donald Trump weakened NATO, but at the same time NATO unity is stronger than ever. These explanations are not convincing. Then we are expected to believe that the US never thumbs it nose in other countries’ business. The United States of America is the great destabilizer of the world; it is not China, or even Russia.

What is logical is that Putin is reacting to an EU and NATO threat to a historically and culturally intertwined region with Russia. What does the US want in Ukraine? You tell us.