Russia is doing what it wants. It took Crimea, made Belarus its puppet state, shot down a Malaysian passenger jet and blamed it on the Ukrainians, refused to give back Polish government plane that crashed in Smolensk, forced the US to cancel a deal with Poland that was supposed to place missile defense systems along its eastern border. Russian agents poisoned Sergei Skripal and his daughter, poisoned and then arrested Alexei Navalny. Putin and Lavrov often threaten other countries and lie in public. Russian elections are known to be a joke and in one of them there was so many fraudulent votes for Putin that the sum of votes shown on TV was over 100%.
I'm fairly certain that if they invade Ukraine, the UN, NATO and the EU will issue formal letters to Putin, maybe even call him, then do some reconnaissance flights, drop some aid packages, accept refugees and that's going to be it.
+1
I think the time to listen or negotiate with Russians is over. They lie and break any agreements before the ink is dry.
It is time for action.
But NATO is like a small barking dog trying to get attention from a big hungry bear.
I have to agree with you. Nato will make some posturing moves, and not engage Russians. Russians will take over Ukraine in no time.
The West will complain, but it will do nothing. In 5-10 years, Russia will shift attention to former Warsaw pact countries, and Nato will withdraw from them (on the 'request' of 'democratically elected' pro-Russian governments) to avoid military conflict. Trump already wanted to reduce American involvement in Nato. So watch out if he is elected again. Russia will be running Europe and Nato will dissolve.