Well, the NYT article that you didn't bother to read describes the US DOD taking Putin's threats very seriously indeed. And DOD is not generally considered to be big on appeasement.
As pstokk notes in this thread, rather than relying on a talented chess player from Azerbaijan and a deeply partisan Ukrainian, maybe spend some time with Timothy Snyder.
What do you think his reason was for invading Ukraine? Let's ask Putin!
"Behind the choice of millions of residents in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions is our common destiny and a thousand-year history. This spiritual connection people passed on to their children and grandchildren. Despite all the trials, they carried through the years love for Russia. And no one can destroy this feeling in us. That is why both the older generations and the youth, those who were born after the tragedy of the collapse of the Soviet Union, voted for our unity, for our common future.
In 1991, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, without asking the will of ordinary citizens, representatives of the then party elites decided to collapse the USSR, and people suddenly found themselves cut off from their homeland. This tore apart, dismembered our people’s community, turned into a national catastrophe. As once after the revolution the borders of the union republics were cut behind the scenes, so the last leaders of the Soviet Union, contrary to the direct expression of the will of the majority of people in the 1991 referendum, ruined our great country, simply confronted the peoples with a fact. [...]
I want the Kyiv authorities and their real masters in the West to hear me, so that everyone remembers this: people living in Lugansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye become our citizens forever. [...]We will protect our land with all the forces and means at our disposal and will do everything to ensure the safe life of our people. This is the great liberation mission of our people.
The West is ready to step over everything in order to preserve the neo-colonial system that allows it to parasitize, in fact, to plunder the world [...] their aggression towards independent states, towards traditional values ​​and original cultures, attempts to undermine international and integration processes beyond their control [...] The ruling elites of some states voluntarily agree to do this, voluntarily agree to become vassals; others are bribed, intimidated. [...] It is the so-called West that has trampled on the principle of the inviolability of borders [i.e., the "border" of Russia that the USSR maintained, comprising all of Eastern Europe].
And these days, people in Donetsk and Luhansk, in Kherson and Zaporizhia have spoken out in favor of restoring our historical unity. [...] [skipping a long, detailed description of the crimes committed by the West, especially the US, much of it based on fact, but reorganized.]
Today we are fighting for a just and free path, first of all for ourselves, for Russia, for diktat, despotism to remain forever in the past. I am convinced that countries and peoples understand that a policy based on the exclusivity of anyone, on the suppression of other cultures and peoples, is inherently criminal, that we must turn this shameful page. The collapse of Western hegemony that has begun is irreversible. And I repeat again: it will not be the same as before. The battlefield to which fate and history have called us is the battlefield for our people, for great historical Russia. [Here. "great historical Russia" has a very precise meaning: the Russian Empire.] [...] Today, we need the consolidation of the entire society, and such cohesion can only be based on sovereignty, freedom, creation, and justice. "
Well, the NYT article that you didn't bother to read describes the US DOD taking Putin's threats very seriously indeed. And DOD is not generally considered to be big on appeasement.
As pstokk notes in this thread, rather than relying on a talented chess player from Azerbaijan and a deeply partisan Ukrainian, maybe spend some time with Timothy Snyder.
What do you think his reason was for invading Ukraine? Let's ask Putin!
"Behind the choice of millions of residents in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions is our common destiny and a thousand-year history. This spiritual connection people passed on to their children and grandchildren. Despite all the trials, they carried through the years love for Russia. And no one can destroy this feeling in us. That is why both the older generations and the youth, those who were born after the tragedy of the collapse of the Soviet Union, voted for our unity, for our common future.
In 1991, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, without asking the will of ordinary citizens, representatives of the then party elites decided to collapse the USSR, and people suddenly found themselves cut off from their homeland. This tore apart, dismembered our people’s community, turned into a national catastrophe. As once after the revolution the borders of the union republics were cut behind the scenes, so the last leaders of the Soviet Union, contrary to the direct expression of the will of the majority of people in the 1991 referendum, ruined our great country, simply confronted the peoples with a fact. [...]
I want the Kyiv authorities and their real masters in the West to hear me, so that everyone remembers this: people living in Lugansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye become our citizens forever. [...]We will protect our land with all the forces and means at our disposal and will do everything to ensure the safe life of our people. This is the great liberation mission of our people.
The West is ready to step over everything in order to preserve the neo-colonial system that allows it to parasitize, in fact, to plunder the world [...] their aggression towards independent states, towards traditional values ​​and original cultures, attempts to undermine international and integration processes beyond their control [...] The ruling elites of some states voluntarily agree to do this, voluntarily agree to become vassals; others are bribed, intimidated. [...] It is the so-called West that has trampled on the principle of the inviolability of borders [i.e., the "border" of Russia that the USSR maintained, comprising all of Eastern Europe].
And these days, people in Donetsk and Luhansk, in Kherson and Zaporizhia have spoken out in favor of restoring our historical unity. [...] [skipping a long, detailed description of the crimes committed by the West, especially the US, much of it based on fact, but reorganized.]
Today we are fighting for a just and free path, first of all for ourselves, for Russia, for diktat, despotism to remain forever in the past. I am convinced that countries and peoples understand that a policy based on the exclusivity of anyone, on the suppression of other cultures and peoples, is inherently criminal, that we must turn this shameful page. The collapse of Western hegemony that has begun is irreversible. And I repeat again: it will not be the same as before. The battlefield to which fate and history have called us is the battlefield for our people, for great historical Russia. [Here. "great historical Russia" has a very precise meaning: the Russian Empire.] [...] Today, we need the consolidation of the entire society, and such cohesion can only be based on sovereignty, freedom, creation, and justice. "
Read the whole thing - it's worth your time.
*blushes*