You don't think Russia would invade the Baltics? Or are they not west enough for you? Could you outline the difference between a Western country that Russia wouldn't dare invade vs nations that in your mind deserve to be ethnically cleansed?
I meant "western" geographically here.
I'm sure Russia won't invade the Baltics.
But I'm not sure that Russia will never invade Azərbaycan. (Azərbaycan has oil and is not in NATO and frome time to time they attack Armenia or Armenia attacks Azərbaycan).
I remember the second (Putin's) war in Tschetschenia. I've known since 20 years that Russia/Putin is ruthless.
How to deal with Russia? I actually opt for appeasement and containment.
Ie repeating the steps that led to the current war (and a couple of previous ones). You expect a different outcome next time?
You can't fight it down completely, because of nukes. You can't destroy Russia's military industry.
I would treat it as a smaller and lighter version of the Soviet Union. NATO did not interfere in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland back then. These countries are free now which is great.
Countries like Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan should try not to poke the bear and should not gamble that NATO will bail them out.
This is bad. Maybe it will get better with smart politics but it sure get's worse with bad politics.