Isn't it hilarious that it's been "controversial" to say there's a US proxy war in a country where the US is sending weapons to be used by CIA-trained fighters backed by US intelligence against a longtime US rival in a conflict the US knowingly provoked? Just an FYI here. Putin asked to join NATO because (as he said in Russian, but nobody dared translate, let alone publish) he hoped and expected they could and would help destroy the nuclear arms arsenal both sides are abusing for imaginary stability between former enemies, and (yes, he actually said this) "all this is, is a weapons arsenal from days when leaders were suicidal emotional maniacs", and "we are above that now, we have existential problems to solve, like a warming planet…