As a citizen of such a country I disagree.
After over a generation the effects speak for themselves - those who aligned with the west are now democracies(even if at times lead by populists) with healthy economies which were invested into.
Meanwhile those who either aligned with Russia or remained under its influence have very little of the liberty my generation already got used to, rampant corruption and stagnant economies.
Personally I prefer the former, as many citizens of the latter really, but they don't have a say in that due to their circumstances.
As for safety: Ukraine was supposed to remain neutral in exchange for the nuclear stockpile on its territory, but all it got is an unprovoked invasion from Russia, which doesn't respect such agreements and it's enough to neighbor this country to understand this.
Is US handing out passports here in Europe? Are they deporting kids to US, invading countries to make it their own territory? Poisoning politicians that alignn with Russia? Sorry but I haven't seen that. However, we've seen plenty of that coming from Russia.
And you wonder why countries like to join NATO (under agreement, begging them to accept), and not Russia (under force). Strange right?
Maybe one form is better than the other, or do you consider those equal?
I'm not from US by the way, I'm Belgian. You know, home of EU and NATO. Both were formed on collaboration agreements, not enforcement.
But let’s imagine that this is a win-win relationship, say between Estonia and NATO. I understand that Estonia is getting from them, but what USA is getting?
USA is getting a strong partnership next to one of its worst enemies.
Let me pose this question: If US would drop out of NATO, would that mean all NATO countries would drop out, or would the rest of NATO still form an alliance?
Ridiculous comparison
"The Ukrainian military already is bleeding Russia in the Donbass region (and vice versa). Providing more U.S. military equipment and advice could lead Russia to increase its direct involvement in the conflict and the price it pays for it ... Increasing military advice and arms supplies to Ukraine is the most feasible of these options with the largest impact, but any such initiative would have to be calibrated very carefully to avoid a widely expanded conflict."
- 2019 paper from the RAND Corporation titled Extending Russia: Competing from Advantageous Ground
https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/...
Without Western support, there would be no Ukraine right now.
Hard to find words to express how shitty that would be.
i guess that makes you an expert at master-slave relationships
Not to mention that the markets are not a zero sum game (unlike war). Both sides can get richer in the process.