"Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a free country on Russia’s western border with abundant natural gas, oil, arable land, and fresh water — essential for Crimea, which was itself annexed by Russia in 2014 and has been dying of thirst ever since. Of even greater significance, or at least for the last few hundred years, Ukraine’s eastern border extends along the Eurasian Steppe, an open plain that spreads across the entire continent, and presents a massive front along which any Western European land assault would be disastrous for Moscow. For these reasons, Russia has always considered Ukraine a critical strategic asset, and, realistically, invasion was always inevitable. But after Ukrainians toppled their corrupt, pro-Kremlin government in 2014, the “threat” of liberalization and western integration convinced Putin to finally roll the dice. He immediately began in the Black Sea, and the world did nothing. Now he’s in Kyiv. International, and especially European reaction to the invasion has been significant. This in turn catalyzed further Russian escalation over the weekend. Following a series of aggressive economic sanctions, Putin ordered his military command to put the country’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, an implicit threat of cataclysmic proportion. In unblinking response, the nations of Western Europe committed to remilitarization, and began to arm Ukraine."