I generally eschew foreign policy and current events but I'm making an exception.

Japan's history with the U.S. in the late 1930s and early 1940s bears striking similarities to that between Russia and the U.S. today. Both Japan and Russia were involved in their own "near abroad." The U.S. expressed it's disapproval through economic sanctions.  Japan, of course, decided to strike rather than cower.

I suppose Russian leadership must be making the same risk/reward calculations -- I suppose every adversary of the U.S. must be -- that's what national leadership should be doing.

You may not want war -- but war wants you.  You will enjoy this.

Fritz Berggren, PhD