Ok, so now compare your comment to the situation in Ukraine, if you can.
Major powers defend their border regions at all costs, and their smaller neighbors get trampled whenever they align themselves with their larger neighbors' enemies. It isn't pretty, but that's how it is. Russia is doing exactly what we have done and would do if Moscow or Beijing installed a puppet ally in Ottawa or Mexico City and pursued a military treaty alliance with it. These events are so predictable that Ray Charles could have seen them coming.