[redmorphium]

> Would the US tolerate mexico become a china military ally? Doubtful. One of the unwritten laws.

Exactly. The Ukraine situation would be tantamount to Canada or Mexico entering into a military alliance with Iran -- not acceptable and a direct cause of war.

[_kbh_]

> Exactly. The Ukraine situation would be tantamount to Canada or Mexico entering into a military alliance with Iran -- not acceptable and a direct cause of war.

How is it any different to Finland joining NATO? (which they just did).

[hutzlibu]

The difference is the shared history and language.

(also true for border regions with finnland, but way less overall as finnish is a different language family)

Russian nationalism consideres Kiev the root of the russian culture (but they might change that narrative soon).

Also, they are really not happy about it.

[qwytw]

Ukraine did not enter any military alliances with anyone they just wanted to stop being a puppet/client state of Russia.

Also the only two things Russia has going for it are their energy resources and their nukes. It's a poor second tier/regional power without that (even with the oil/gas/etc. it still has a 2.5x lower GDP than Germany despite an almost 2x higher population).