Good reply. I agree, none of our leaders are boy scouts. Most of them are amoral and only in it for wealth and power. I believe the Putin is also amoral and possibly quite wicked, but he's in it for Russia and his place in history.

Everyone in this conflict has a reason to be in it. If I were Ukrainian, I'd fight Russia hard. The Soviet Union was monstrous and deliberately starved millions during the Holodomor. Anyone in Eastern Europe knows the story and some of have experienced Soviet rule firsthand. Who would want to let this happen to them?

But if I were Russian, I also would not want to be ruled by the West. If NATO incursions are not resisted, Russia will sooner or later bend the knee to feckless Western rulers. What was going on in Ukraine was a dangerous and intolerable provocation.

I believe the villains in this story are the Western politicians who lured Ukraine into harm's way.