Just has been done by every militarist in the past, Putin first sent in terrified conscripts who thought that were headed for a "realistic training exercise.” The tough, loyal professionals are held in reserve until the enemy reveals their weaknesses.

Hannibal did this.

At Waterloo, Wellington took up position with marshland behind him. Napoleon thought he had Wellington trapped. Not quite. Wellington placed his British soldiers on the flanks, with unreliable allies in the center, so they were forced to stand and fight. Hitler exploited the Romanians in the same manner.

The real fighting has yet to begin.

Belarus has joined Russia. Much like partitioning of Poland by Hitler and Stalin, the plan is to partition Ukraine, with Russia getting the eastern provinces and Belarus to the west. The dividing line will be the Dnieper River, with land-locked Belarus holding Odessa on the Baltic Sea.

The ultimate objective is to expose NATO for the hollow threat that it is.

1  If this partition of Ukraine occurred after their vote for independence in 1991  the civil war that also started that day may have been avoided but I doubt the hatred between Eastern and Western Ukraine would have been tampered. I only went back to the 1918 Bolshevik Revolution that saw Eastern Ukraine siding with  the Bolsheviks and the West siding with the White Russians. I firmly believe that the rift between the 2 sides goes further back then that but to find the truth one would have to see how all the different influences that have controlled this area had on the people and what were their lasting effects.
 

2 Mike, the Ukrainians have no love of Muscovy and never did. What they want to do is de-Russify their country. Putin, on the other hand, wants to re-Russify it, and wants to control all their ports on the Black Sea so as to impose economic control of the region.

There very much are two sides to this story.

I favor driving the Russians out for a couple of reasons:

1.Putin is ex-KGB and his "administration" is a plutocracy that reaps profit off the Russian people and at the same time seeks political domination of the region
2.Putin has been a thorn in America's side for twenty years now, and will continue to be thus. Much of the chaos in the Middle East is a result of the funding and support of the Russo-Iranian axis.
3. The U.S. is obligated by treaty to defend Ukraine.
4. If Russia succeeds at this they will be poised to do it elsewhere in Eastern Europe or to other allies of ours.

That said, military action is just asking for it. And I don't think we should risk American cities for the Ukrainian government's stupidity.

Russia could easily be handled through economic pressures. Shoot, their economy is smaller than several American STATES.

But I totally agree; there is another side to this story. We rather abused Russia after the end of the Cold War and now those chickens are coming home to roost.

And Russia is resisting the Internationalism that has swept the world (which is why they want us to take Russia - and Putin - out.)

3

The tough, loyal professionals are held in reserve until the enemy reveals their weaknesses.