From the Russian perspective, reestablishing the old borders of the Soviet Empire is a strategic must have. The only thing that saved Russia from Napoleon, The Swedes and a plethora of other invaders is it had strategic depth.
We could, conceivably, avoid the Russian wars of aggression in pursuit of their goals if we were willing to find an alternative that suits their (justified) paranoia on the subject. However, there are apparently no world class strategists, politicians or top-grade thinkers in any of the relevant governments.
None of the present Western powers has either the means, the population base or the will to invade Russia. But the Russians are thinking about the position they’ll be in at the end of this century when the ethnic Russian population will be small enough to barely fill a medium sized stadium.
My guess is, baring a mass conversion of Islamists to Catholics, that the ethnic Russian population will have converted by 2100, be dead, or will have emigrated to someplace with better economies and palm trees.
“We could, conceivably, avoid the Russian wars of aggression in pursuit of their goals if we were willing to find an alternative that suits their (justified) paranoia on the subject. However, there are apparently no world class strategists, politicians or top-grade thinkers in any of the relevant governments.”
Gimme a break. Russia has more nuclear warheads than any other country in the world. Nobody is going to invade Russia. Entertaining Russia’s delusions is like agreeing that a 6’5” 250lb lunatic is perfectly rational in beating up a 4’10” woman for calling him a hurty word caused him to fear for his safety.