JG Estiot. You are right. But America, Europe and NATO were not set up for that. For them to move, public will had to be there, and (at least in those early days) it was not. It later rallied to Zelensky's heroic steadfastness and determination to fight. To most that was a surprise.

Unfortunateley that precious popular support capital was no longer in the bank in America (most probably Europe also). We spent it with the considerably weaker priorities (if not just bad ideas) of Afghanistan and Iraq. That painful reality was exposed with Obama and our almost total inaction in Syria. Syria, where Putin got some practice and elevated himself on the world stage.

The question is does NATO move now? It will surely escalate the war, but that can well happen anyway. Is there sufficient popular backing even now? How robust is it? and how long is that "window" for public enthusiasm (or at least acceptability) open?

Many thanks. Thoughtful article.