And as for Russia being weakened the action has driven Russia into improving its solidarity with the majority of the earth's population who accept & understand that the problem is created by USA to the detriment of most people in the world.

Remember what Eisenhower said in his farewell address, "Beware the Industrial Military Complex". Our position of "protector of democracy" will probably be our downfall, but now that we've made our bed, we are obligated to lie in it.‍

I'm not a fan of Putin. Sorry. The U. S. being involved in this dispute of territory has many risks. We did not start the war directly. Putin claimed he was purging the Nazis from the Ukraine.

@DenoPenno That, too, was only an excuse. Putin is a twisted, paranoid megalomaniac who is trying to claim a chapter in the history books by returning to the glory days of the Soviet Union when he was a big shot in the KGB (in East Germany).

Archeus_Lore : Please describe the action by the U.S. that initiated the "war". Wait while I scratch my head. I might have guessed you are from Texas.

@DenoPenno See my reply below to fishline79 . . . .

@fishline79 I was hoping you would ask . . . .

So many Americans are literally CLUELESS because they have the belief that they can trust their government and the media to tell them the full story, so they go on like children like many of us were, when we were told to say the Pledge of Allegiance, and the "under God", that came along with it. As an true agnostic also, and a veteran, I find plenty of reasons to doubt the government's bull shit . . . . has it not ever occurred to you that a nation that is truly defending itself does not spend the vast length of its existence waging wars? However, the USA has been at war almost constantly since its founding, and even more so since World War II. That is the footprint of a nation that is "defending itself"? Dropping nuclear weapons on two Japanese cities, that was a "defensive action"? Invading a sovereign country, upon the pretense that it has WMD, when in fact it had no WMD, AND the trumped up charges against it were fabricated . . . that is the footprint of a nation "defending itself"?

Take your time and review the evidence, then once you have, come back and tell me I am wrong. Accept that challenge, review the evidence, then prove to me I am wrong. Like we say to the kristians: Prove it!

The 2014 coup in Ukraine was backed by the USA, remember the recording of Victoria Nuland, selecting who would become the leaders, and saying "F**k the EU"?

From Der Spiegel, November 26, 2009 :
NATO's Eastward Expansion: Did the West Break Its Promise to Moscow?
What the US secretary of state said on Feb. 9, 1990 in the magnificent St. Catherine's Hall at the Kremlin is beyond dispute. There would be, in Baker's words, "no extension of NATO's jurisdiction for forces of NATO one inch to the east," provided the Soviets agreed to the NATO membership of a unified Germany. Moscow would think about it, Gorbachev said, but added: "any extension of the zone of NATO is unacceptable."
[spiegel.de]

Obama admitted his role in the US-supported coup in Ukraine. (First video link below).
Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State, admits in the second video that the USA supported the Ukrainian coup with 5 billion dollars. Note the Chevron symbol in the background of the video. John McCain (Senator Lovewar himself) and Victoria Nuland were in Ukraine in December 2013 amid the mass anti-government protests. (The third video is of John McCain in Ukraine addressing protesters.) During the visit, McCain met with Ukrainian opposition leaders in the country’s capital of Kiev, voicing his support for the protests, adding that he saw Ukraine’s future with Europe.
Obama admits the US-sponsored coup:

Donbass after the US-sponsored coup: Anne-Laure Bonnel

German ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel admits that they were lying about the Minsk Agreements.
[english.almayadeen.net]

Three major corporations bought millions of acres of land in Ukraine immediately after the 2014 US-sponsored coup . . . . no planning there at all, right?
[oaklandinstitute.org]
This is the butt naked clown the USA government has such a hard on for, that they are sending Billions of our tax dollars to. .

@Archeus_Lore Though I agree with much of what you said and have for many years, we have, like many other countries, leaders we cannot trust, but we also had leaders we could trust, but you couldn't be more wrong about WW2. Do you really think we should have ignored Hitler and Japan? Did you ever study the atrocities committed by Japanese "butchers" all over S.E Asia, China and the Philippines Dropping those bombs was a last resort after the Japs refused to agree to our terms of surrender, and were told the western "barbarians" were going to come and destroy their civilization. They were propagandized like the Nazis (Trump's teachers) That was the only thing we could do and although it killed tens of thousands in Japan, It saved millions of lives in many of other countries. Stop listening to Fox news and right-wing conspiracy-theory "Blogs". They are anarchists. As for the "Neo-Con", fascist House "Freedom Party" Republicans or whatever they are calling themselves, they are a bunch of racist opportunists who want to revive the Confederacy and take the whole country back to the Jim Crow days, like the states they come from still cling to. We will apparently outlive our history of racial relations and admit that the reason white supremacists fear the blacks is because they are determined to never release the strangle-hold they have on them and acknowledge that we can't escape our legacy of slavery and racism. The past is coming back to bite us in the ass.

@Archeus_Lore Jeezus, I guess I touched a nerve! So, do I have to dust off my six shooter and meet you at noon? Sorry, I identify more with Jimmie Stewart than Lee Marvin, in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance".