So, consider:
When Putin seized power in Russia by bombing apartment-buildings full of his own people, killing hundreds, wounding thousands --so he could blame it on the Chechens, and make himself a 'hero' by invading and slaughtering them,...
...That wasn't enough to make us or NATO react in any serious way. 'Not our business.'
When he tracked former dissidents around the world, and had them murdered --on US soil, even,...
...That wasn't enough to make us act, either. We pretended it didn't happen.
When he invaded Georgia, to crush an incipient democracy he considered a threat,...
...That wasn't enough to make us act. 'Not our war.'
When he staged a fake 'siege' by Chechen terrorists, who mass-murdered bystanders in a Moscow theater,...
... That wasn't enough to make us act.
When he brazenly murdered journalists, for telling the truth about him and his Russia,...
... That wasn't enough to make us act.
When he murdered Boris Nemtsov, in plain view on a busy Moscow street, for the crime of telling the truth about him publicly,...
... That wasn't enough to make us act.
When he murdered former FSB-spook Litvinenko, by spreading radioactive polonium all over a London tea-shop,...
... That wasn't enough to make us act.
When he invaded Ukraine the first time, murdered thousands, tortured and raped its residents (whose security we had pledged to protect --when we convinced them to give up their nukes in '94 and join the West), and stole a large chunk of their country,...
... That wasn't enough to make us act. Too risky. (And besides, Republicans were partly on his side.)
When he spread nerve-gas all over Canterbury, England, to murder a defector and his daughter (who were no threat to him whatsoever),...
... That wasn't enough to make us act.
When he hijacked US elections, and worked to install a quasi-Nazi toady criminal as our President, to do his bidding, and destroy US democracy,...
... That STILL wasn't enough to make us act in any major way. I mean, it's tricky --and it wasn't just him.
When he slaughtered thousands of Kurds in Syria --whose security we'd guaranteed multiple times,...
... That wasn't enough to make us act. (Hell, Trump helped him do it.)
When he tried very hard to steal our election again --and just barely failed,...
... That STILL wasn't enough to make us act.
When he invaded the fledgling-democracy Ukraine again, and started mass-murdering people and destroying their entire country,...
... That wasn't enough to make us act.
When he started bombing and shelling the cities --just to kill and destroy as much as he could,...
... That wasn't enough to make us act.
When he overtly threatened mass-violence against multiple nations (including our own) for daring to hint they might act to protect themselves against him,…
… That wasn’t enough to make us act.
When he bombed and assaulted nuclear reactors, putting all of Europe at great risk of disaster,...
... That wasn't enough to make us act. Nah. Too dangerous.
When he dropped a one-ton bomb on a hospital full of new mothers and infants,...
... That wasn't enough to make us act.
Forgive me, but I feel I gotta ask at some point,... what the fuck does it take??
Tomorrow or the day after, when he drops nerve-gas on a village in East Ukraine somewhere, and we all have to look at the twisted, agonized corpses of the retirees and housewives spread around the streets,... and he then pretends the Ukies did it, and makes it an excuse for mass-murdering even more innocent people,...
... Will that be enough?
When he blows Chernobyl sky-high, and purposely puts enough radioactive cesium and strontium in the air to terrorize millions of people in every direction,...
... Is that gonna do it?
How about when he invades Estonia, and starts mass-murdering them?
...Will that 'cross the line??' I mean they are NATO members, but still, he's got all those nukes, and we really don't wanna piss him off.
Poland, maybe? Are they important enough?
Does he have to vaporize Chicago with an H-bomb?? Would that finally get our attention??
Sorry, I just can't help wondering how far, exactly, these goal-posts are gonna move. Is there an end?
(Yeah, I know, I ask a lot of stupid questions.)