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Putin's endgame was to move quickly, take Kiev and install a puppet government. Sure, the world would apply sanctions, but Europe is reliant on Russian gas and after a few years everything would be back to normal. So, a few years of no economic growth for a Russian aligned government in Kiev. For an ex-KGB officer like Putin that's a good trade. The problem is that Ukraine has put up more resistance than expected. Now Putin has the problem of: More Russian troops and military equipment are being committed increasing the cost of this endeavor dramatically. More Ukrainians are being killed which will make those left less likely to accept a puppet regime. Ukraine is being devastated by the ongoing conflict so any economic benefit Putin might have received from Ukraine will likely go toward reconstruction. The longer this plays out the more time the world has to respond and apply further sanctions. The courage of the Ukrainians and specifically Zelensky have personalized this conflict for many due to the 24/7 news coverage. The grass-roots world reaction will hurt Russia on many fronts. The endgame for Putin now is much less clear. A puppet government in Ukraine will likely fail. Occupation will certainly lead to more Russian and Ukrainian deaths while becoming an economic drain on Russia. Negotiations with the current government looks like a weak afterthought with any result being seen as a win for Zelensky. Further, any of the above outcomes do not lessen sanctions in the near future. On a related note, this conflict has also revitalized NATO. The failures in Afghanistan will be forgotten as the EU countries realize how important a strong NATO is as a deterrent to Russia. Long term this could be the tipping point where Russia starts to decline rapidly. Russia's main exports will never be worth more than they are right now. Once the world transitions away from petroleum for transportation Russia will lose a significant source of income. Their strongest ally could turn into an adversary as a weak Russia becomes an easy target for China.

By 2035 Russia will resemble a third world country (anyone who's been there knows that there are areas that already fit this description). By 2035 the population is projected to decline from 144 million to under 140 million without taking account the full impacts of the ongoing war. The primary exports (oil and gas) will become less relevant as the world moves toward renewables. The loss of military capability in the current conflict (and the economic inability to rebuild the armed forced) will encourage other countries within the Russian Federation sphere of influence to split off. Georgia and Moldova are future NATO candidates and any number of the "stan's" would likely try to go it alone.

I think the legitimate question is "Where have you been over the past 70+ years?" Finland and Sweden chose to remain separate from NATO until they saw Russian as an existential threat. If war had broken out in Europe years ago, would they have been fully committed to NATO members? I don't know but not being full members of NATO allowed them an out. Now they are great allies that want to be members of the alliance. I think that NATO should make them wait (and sweat) a couple of years until they approve their membership.

Even with their low spending, by most accounts Germany's military is ranked anywhere from 4th to 14th in the world compared to Russia (widely ranked 2nd). Far from weak or the weakest. Germany has the 4th largest GDP in the world, more than twice the size of Russia's at 11th. Germany and Russia have extensive economic ties as Germany is Russia's second largest trading partner. Ukraine is less than 1000 miles from Germany. Nowhere in my post did I say Germany should "go it alone". Of all the NATO countries, Germany has most interest in this conflict being settled peacefully. Economically they can bring the most pressure to bear against Russia and will likely be the destination of refugees from the potential conflict. Rather than just criticize, tell me what country do you think should take the lead in averting a Russia/Ukraine conflict?

This is an easy answer. I want all NATO members countries to commit to what they agreed to. If all NATO countries spent 2% of their GDP on defense (which again, they agreed to) it would add up to between $25-50 billion US dollars. The US could lower its defense spending by the amount our allies are now properly contributing, $25-50 billion dollars. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_67655.htm "In 2006, NATO Defence Ministers agreed to commit a minimum of 2% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to defence spending to continue to ensure the Alliance’s military readiness." Think about how silly this is...... The US with a population of 330 million people and a GDP of $23.19 trillion dollars is defending the EU with a population of 447 million people and a GDP of $15.3 trillion dollars from Russia, a country with a population of 144 million people and a GDP of $1.71 trillion dollars

I've said it before, the Russia/Ukraine conflict was the perfect scenario for the European NATO members to assert themselves. Militarily, it would have been easy to funnel arms to Ukraine given the close proximity of European NATO members. Instead, we have UK planes that need to fly around German airspace to provide the Ukrainians defensive weapons. Even if the EU NATO countries didn't have the stomach for that they could have provided Ukraine economic subsidies so the Ukrainians could have purchased their own weapons. Instead, we got Nordstream 2 which will hurt the Ukraine economy. The truth is that NATO is a farce. It is a one-sided organization that allows European countries to be protected by American service members with American money. Let me clarify that I am calling out mainland European countries, God bless the United Kingdom!

This is a great opportunity for our NATO partners to step up. Germany (still spending less than 1.5% of GDP on defense) should be leading the effort.

I have to wonder if NATO members had kept their defense spending commitments would Russia have still invaded Ukraine? An extra 1-1.5 percent of GDP doesn't sound like much but over 20 years you're talking a lot of capability. Even if Germany had kept its nuclear reactors so it was not so dependent on Russian gas this could be a different scenario. Hindsight is 20/20 but it's hard to believe after Crimea no NATO members would have thought to react and make military or economic shifts.

What could sleepy have done differently? Maybe Biden could have said something like "We are evaluating our military options." or "No response is off the table." or "We plan on responding appropriately to the actions the Russians take." Instead, we get: WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday putting American troops on the ground in Ukraine to deter a potential Russian invasion was "not on the table" and he hoped to announce a meeting with Russia and other NATO countries by Friday. But we have some really scary sanctions coming, oh no! What kind of fool shows their hand ahead of time? He might as well have written Putin a letter telling him exactly what we will do every step of the way. If an idiot goes to a car dealer and says their willing to pay MSRP, they're going to get the car for......MSRP. What would I have done? I would have moved 50K troops, an Armored Division and a couple of squadrons of F-35's and F-22's to southeast Poland for "exercises". Then I would have told Putin "Whether you like it or don't like it, bear with it, my beauty".

If fellow NATO members contribute an additional $25-50 billion dollars, as they have already agreed to, then the US could contribute $25-50 billion dollars less. If this were to occur, the exact same amount would be spent on defense. The ability stop people like Putin would be exactly the same. I hope this makes sense for you. Do I think our military spending should be cut? It should, and some of the burden should be shifted to our allies as they have already agreed to it. The US spends more on defense than the next 11 countries combined. I really enjoy your comment above, hope the moderators do as well.