One of the unfortunate realities of the human being is we are loath to deal with a problem until it is unescapable, or worse a real disaster.  We will tell ourselves it is a lie, or an exaggeration or that God will fix it.  We will play politics – whatever it takes to avoid having to face up to a reality we don’t want to know about or don’t want to pay for.  Who wants to sacrifice unless you really have to? The Russian invasion of Ukraine was such a shock that could not but jolt anyone watching the news.  It was a clear good versus evil.  All those that looked upon Putin and Russia in a positive light had to face the fact that this was now impossible to do.  The same happened in 1939 when even Britain’s Prime Minister declared the real problem was Winston Churchill not Hitler.  When Germany invaded Poland it was obvious that was crazy.     

Obama thought fall of the Soviet Union meant that Russia was no longer a threat.  He was wrong.  Donald Trump said we should be friends with Russia and Putin was a smart good guy.  He was wrong.  Useful idiot Tucker Carlson and a segment of Republicans side with Russia.   They are wrong.       We also forget that almost no one thought Putin would actually invade Ukraine.  President Biden has been criticized for “not doing more” in advance of the Russian invasion.  We forget that we knew that Putin was looking for a reason to invade and US strategy was to not give him that excuse.  We try to figure out why Putin thought he could get away with the invasion.  Apparently he thought the US-Europe alliance was weak.  NATO was not together,  sanctions would not be effective because many countries would not accept higher gas prices.  That the USA was divided against itself.  That there were plenty of useful idiots like Tucker Carlson that would encourage support of Russia.  So why did he think those things? We are now understanding why.