Ukraine (Mod Note & Threadbanned Users in OP)

You don't need to "hold 44 million", just convince enough to give up. If you had a family in Ukraine, you don't want to see them hurt. Dictators like Putin (this is his title) rely on the fear of others to keep him at the top.

Humans by their very definition are hypocrites and walking contradictions. But we humans also are self absorbed in what affects us most. A war in Afghanistan doesn't really register with me much because I cant be upset about every tragedy of the world and I am fundamentally only concerned with my family and friends. Its not that I think its ok for these wars, but there is little I can do as an individual, so I try to do the best I can with those around me and not step on other peoples feet or take from others. If everybody did that, on national levels, we would be fine.

The thought of a war in Europe scares me. Its not that I am convinced it will happen, its that I do not know how far Putin might be willing to push things and I do not know how far the West might push back. Somebody could easily make a bad call and escalate things unintentionally. At the end of the day, its fallible people/humans making decisions for us all on both sides. I was young when the Cold war ended, so alot of it didnt resonate with me. This is the first time I have seen a super power threaten the stability of a European country. The reason I say this is because this is the reason why people on this side of the water are getting concerned. Like every human (even the morons trying to belittle or side step the events with "but merica"), when my actual real life is threatened financially and possibly worse in an Armageddon scenario, I get more alert and pay more attention.

Optimistically (from a depressing POV), the best I can see for everybody (except the Ukrainians who are the sacrificial lambs in this "optimistic" scenario) is that this aggression goes no further then that country and that the hysteria around it settles down over the next few weeks with all other inflationary concerns reducing. I hope NATO is flexing its muscles to make sure Putin doesn't go any further and that this will end up being Putin's only ambitious expansion. Being super optimistic maybe Putins own people will turn against him and the west can properly help Russia embrace democracy.