Could you elaborate on how the 'little war' was started? I would say it started when Crimea became a part of Russia, which was not an act of the United States.

Russia didn't invade Crimea out of the blue. From Russia's perspective the start this whole thing is closer to when the US helped overthrow Ukraine's government and was actually caught on tape micro-managing some of the government transition[1].

Imagine what the US would do if, for instance, Russia were to help overthrow Mexico's elected government and install parties friendly to its own interests in their place.

1. http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2014/...

I meant the politicizing of space aspect. After Putin annexed Crimea, it was NASA that basically said "hey, we don't like what you're doing with Ukraine, so from now on, we're not going to space together". It's only after that Russia decided not to sell rocket engines to US anymore.

Personally, I suspect that some politician pushed NASA to do this as a cheap popularity shot. But regardless, it's the US that escalated Ukraine into spaceflight business, so it's not fair to accuse Putin of politicizing space.

Heck, I learned about that NASA stunt here, on HN. People seem to have a really, really short memory.

EDIT: for a simple proof and a reminder, just HN-search for "NASA Russia" and "Russia engines".

- 5 months ago NASA suspends work with Russia over involvement in Ukraine (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7517679)

- 4 months ago Russia Bans Rocket Engine Sales to U.S. Military (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7740033)