How can the U.S. provide security guarantees to Ukraine when it is currently unable to stop Russia from attacking Ukraine?

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Does Putin have absolute power to make a deal by offering concessions without approval of the Federal Assembly or his Generals?

@Jokersswild That is not where I was going with that exactly. One of the Russian's positions for years at this point is "you agree to neutrality like in 1991, and we don't march all the way to Lviv."

As long as Zelensky and company demand what is left of Ukraine be in NATO they will keep pushing west because they will not allow an enemy forward operating base on their border.

And to anyone who says "whatabout Sweden and Finland". Their armies are tiny. They are no threat even together.

@Jokersswild If I recall correctly, missile launchers just across the Black sea from Russia & Ukraine in Turkey and nearby in Greece were part of the motivation behind Russia trying to put missile launchers in Cuba. And while it was presented as JFK standing down Russia, it was resolved, at least in part, by the US agreeing to remove missiles from that close to Russia.

I always thought that it was the contrast between East and West Germany that motivated all of east Europe to rid itself of Russia's influence. One block west of the Berlin wall was a shining city on a hill, while one block east of the wall were the piles of rubble practically untouched since 1945. To the west was a striving economy that had left the war behind, to the east dark and frightening authorities that made it a crime just to talk about freedom. The contrast wasn't just East and West Berlin, but along the entirety of the Iron Curtain.

@Heartlander Exactly right

@nudistsueaz If you say so... but during the Cold War, Russia had the second largest economy in the world. This is a nation that transformed from the poorest country in Europe in the early 1900s to the wealthiest and most powerful in Europe by the Cold War era.

@Heartlander
..but Reagan had nothing to do with it coming down, it was already a done-deal before Reagan tried to take credit for it.

@swirlie wrong president. it was Bill Clinton who was our Rooster president who took credit for the sun rising.