War would be stupid, but in this case the West is simply unwilling to close ranks and make economic sacrifices to erect a Schelling point vs obvious misbehavior on the international stage. This should have been done before, and it should be done now. But the West cannot coordinate effectively unless forced vs large players like Russia or China. It was done vs Libya or South Africa, however.
The stuff in the Ukraine is not a trivial matter, it's a land grab war, 19th century style. We don't want to reach a new equilibrium where it is ok to do stuff like this. You might not care about this particular instance of the misbehavior, but that is not the same thing as the matter being trivial.
Open question for Moldbug fans in the audience: how do you feel about Putin and Putin's Russia? I am not planning to engage further on this, I am just curious.
edit: Full disclosure, I was born in the Crimea, and raised in Odessa until 13 yo. I am not ethnically Ukrainian.
As most of you may already know, the plane that recently crashed on disputed Ukrainian soil carried some of the world's top HIV researchers.
One part of me holds vehemently that all human beings are of equal value.
Another part of me wishes there could be extra-creative punishments for depriving the world of its best minds.
Opinions?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/17/joep-lange-dead-aids-expert-plane-crash_n_5597834.html