Firstly, my "idiots all" comment was about the Democrats.
Russia was always well liked and well-respected by at least half of Ukraine. That was why neutrality made sense. Ukraine does, after all, mean "borderland" and Ukraine was always a borderland between Eurasia and Europe, Orthodoxy and Catholicism. It existed in balance until Victoria Nuland, the CIA, NED, USAID and others decided to partner with the Nazis of Western Ukraine to overthrow the legitimately elected government of Ukraine and install a pro-western government that the people of Eastern Ukraine could not accept.
It is that simple.
TYiou are right that Ukraine's military was trivial in 2014. But after the coup, everything kicked off. The CIA began training Ukrainians, NATO begain traini89ng Ukrainians. The AFU ballooned in size, and so-called "lethal aid" started flowing into Ukraine. That all started in 2014 under Obama and continued under Trump. Remember how Trump was impeached simply for putting a "pause" on the delivery of deadly high tech weapons from the US?
You seem to have a very distorted view of history. Have you not heard of the Minsk Accords? Minsk I and Minsk II? If Putin wanted to use violence to conquer the Donbas (oir more), why did he "waste" 8 years negotiating peace with the West, all the while allowing the West to build up and arm Ukraine's army (as Merkel and Hollande have both admitted)? If he wanted to take Ukraine, he could have easily marched in in 20914 and taken it. Why did he wait?
I am sure Armenia will change its mind once it sees what happens to Ukraine. Right now the Armenians are probably listening to the Americans promise them all sorts of great things, but they will think differently once they see how the US uses and discards Ukraine.
As far as NATO expanding is concerned, I don't think that poses a problem for Russia. other than having to station 70,000 men along the Finnish border that did not have to be there before, and targeting a few of their nuclear missiles at Helsinki and Stockholm, but that's OK - Russia has plenty of nukes to spare (something people in the West seem intent on forgetting).
