You ignore the fact that in the 'liberated' regions, the majority of people identify as Russian. This will eventually either settle down to the restoration of the historic Russian western buffer zone—with most of the productive assets which WERE under Ukrainian control no longer being accessible to the West. Or it will continue, and eventually go beyond Ukraine, and the US/EU will pay even more dearly.
The EU has been castrated. And the US has castrated itself. I'm surprised you don't see deeper into the origins and ramifications of this thing. The US already used its 'super weapon' and it was a total dud. Worse than that, it actually blew up on the US' face, on world-wide display, as will become more apparent as more and more countries peel away from the decrepit US empire.
The strategic goals of Russia/China have already been achieved in Ukraine. The Russians + Chinese never really intended this to be a kinetic war but, rather, an economic war in traditional disguise.
Nonetheless, in the bigger picture, the overwhelming predominance of Ukraine's natural resources have already been captured. What is left of Ukraine now is mostly just dregs -- not worth Russia advancing further. And the US will probably pay trillions it doesn't have, over the years, to subsidize more Ukrainian embezzlement.
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Stupid all the way down. But the US does stupid really well these days.
And if it does escape Ukrainian kinetic containment? If the US/EU elites are stupid enough to push it there? Russia+China have an overwhelming battlefield advantage in the weapons that count. We don't even have hypersonic missiles yet. And aircraft carriers are so 1945; more a liability than an asset if things get dirty. But the biggest advantage is China/Russia homefield advantage and cultural energy. The US has lots of obese, and transvestite troops who really don't have heart in the game. Didn't Vietnam teach the US anything? Apparently not. Obviously not. We have a lot of slow learners over here; maybe too much time spent on the couch, eating potato chips, and playing video game 'shooters'?
It is kind of sad, because it didn't have to be this way. The US could have honestly tried to befriend post-USSR Russia. THAT would have been strategically brilliant. But instead we tried to do our old 'colonize and rape' thing. That forced Russia into China's arms -- historically they have not been friends, for lots of good reasons. And, of course, we BUILT CHINA into an manufacturing powerhouse and transferred all our best technology to them.
Unbelievable the stupidity and short-sightedness of it all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War
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