Yes, we should have seen their invasion before it started and helped Ukraine defend against it better.

Because, surely, you're not suggesting that we should have let Russia rape, murder and pillage Ukraine (and other countries) without any resistance?

Kremlin never hides it's imperialism. Maybe just listen to that?

It's wishful thinking to say "All we had to do was give them what they wanted." I'll skip the tired historical comparison, but just point out that we can't know the counterfactual.

I certainly do not deny American entitlement and exceptionalism, and I think it's a massive mistake on our part. But nobody in the US (or Europe) has any designs on Russian territory. Our mistake as about how we treat our friends, not our enemies.

The Ukraine war was put NATO even more on Russia's borders, and Putin has been NATO's greatest salesman. It's hard to foresee an outcome that doesn't end with Ukraine (in whatever territory it can keep) joining NATO.

America definitely needs to fix its attitude. But Russia appears intent on completely misunderstanding us, and doing so in ways that get its ass kicked. That's not good for anybody, but Russia least of all.

Actually the West did listen, and as a result took the crucial step of formally denying the NATO memberships requests of Ukraine and Georgia in 2008.

But Russia invaded anyway -- because all this NATO noise was never the real reason they sought to pacify Ukraine in the first place.