How did we get here???

"Did Putin look at our exit from Afghanistan as an impetus for moving on the Ukraine? Maybe. However, we will probably never know. All I know is this - Reagan kept us out of war for eight years. Trump kept us out of any new wars for four years."

See the news lately? What is going on in Eastern Europe? This is like a bad dream coming to life. For reasons which go back to the end of the Cold War, it seems we are doing this posturing thing all over again. At first I thought this was just Vlad trolling Biden. Testing him. Now I am not so sure. Part of the problem is Russia has a "leader for life", who was an equally long memory. Like back to his days in the KGB. Back to his days in the Cold War. Back to his days living in the Soviet Union. And now after 30 years, Putin wants his beloved Soviet Empire back again.

Other than history, why would Russia want the Ukraine back? First off, in all the decades the Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, lots of co-mingling went on between the Russians and folks of the Ukraine. Some joke that because of the cross breeding, these two countries are more like cousins than neighbors. If that is the case, why then would the Ukraine not want to be a part of Russia? You will have to ask people in the Ukraine. Maybe they did not like living like subjects under the Russian boot. 

Also, Russia wants the Ukraine for more food independence. Ukraine is known as the "Breadbasket" of Europe. This would be a huge "plus up" for a country whose memory of World War II is very vivid. How they froze. How they starved. How they almost lost their country to the Nazi war machine. Today, they have energy independence with us as a customer (thanks in part to Slo Joe), so also having more food independence would be very important.

This morning, it was reported that the families of our embassy staff were ordered out of the Ukraine. We are now sending tons of "lethal" weapons to Ukraine. Our NATO allies are sending ships and troops to the area. Russia is positioning fighter jets to the area, and even more troops. It is beginning to look like the "dogs of war" are about to be released. And then what? Biden is ready to send somewhere between 3 and 5 thousand troops into the area. This game of chicken is about to get very real, very fast.

Some are saying nothing will happen until the Olympics are over. Putin would not want to take anything away from this event, that his BFF Xi has worked so long and hard on. Or - Putin could blow off his relationship with Xi, and invade next week. To say the least, the next few weeks could be nail biters. 

Did Putin look at our exit from Afghanistan as an impetus for moving on the Ukraine? Maybe. However, we will probably never know. All I know is this - Reagan kept us out of war for eight years. Trump kept us out of any new wars for four years. In only one year, Biden might have us knee deep into the weed bed. And this is a weed bed we don't want to be in.