For the Ukraine-Russia issue, I strongly encourage you to limit your weighting of U.S. legacy/corporate/mainstream media to 15% or less.
Yes, Putin put lots of troops at Ukraine's border. No, Putin has no interest in an invasion of Ukraine. He does, however, have an interest in
- letting the U.S. do what it does -- threaten, posture, and escalate;
- revealing how little the U.S. actually cares about its European allies and their interests;
- revealing how much more the U.S. cares about using its military might to bully other nations;
- revealing the degree to which the U.S. war hawks and defense industry titans drive an aggressive, belligerent U.S. foreign policy;
- driving a wedge between the U.S. and its NATO allies in Europe;
- showing that the U.S. & NATO are the aggressor in Eastern Europe -- not [so much] Russia;
- strengthening economic bonds between Russia and Europe... and China, and... ROW;
- revealing to the ROW that the U.S. is in steep decline as a nation, and no longer capable of being a responsible leader;
- making the case against the USD remaining as the world's reserve currency, just as the U.S. is in the terminal phase of a massive credit bubble.
If you read through
the Joint Statement between the Russian Federation & China from a few days ago, it's clear that everything Putin & Xi are aiming for evaporates if Russia invades Ukraine.
Biden is, predictably, trying to bolster his approval ratings by hoping to do a modern version of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and trying to do what everyone thought JFK did in 1962 -- escalate, show strength, and get Kruschev to back down. [The reality was that installing Russian missiles in Cuba wasn't Kruschev's aggression -- it was a response to the U.S. previously installing Jupiter missiles in Italy and Turkey. The crisis ended when JFK & Kruschev both agreed to remove their missiles from each other's doorsteps.]
Former U.S. Intelligence Officer & Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter has a compelling article on what's happening. I think it's worth adding to your Foreign Policy reading list.
The Ultimate End of NATOIf I were Joe, I'd take the deal -- promise that NATO won't include Ukraine, and send everyone home to watch the rest of the Olympics in peace. But that's just me, apparently.