To avoid this, I think the united states would do well to keep its economy strong. As a hedge against russian encroachment. There isn't much alternative deterrent.
Sure, that would be an excellent strategy if the US hadn't already cocked things up with all the quantitative easing, stimulus checks, and who knows what else that's resulting in serious inflation right now. I look at the price of gas every day, and it only seems to be going up and up, much worse than over a decade ago when it was above $4/gallon.
Meanwhile, I'm not even sure what's happening in Russia and their conflict with Ukraine. It's almost as if that news story has lived out its life cycle--which is bizarre to me, because I would have thought they'd have owned Ukraine within the first two days of an invasion. These days I'm never quite sure what to believe when I see it on the news.