Treating Russia/Putin like Nazi Germany/Hitler is a farcical view of the situation that has little to do with reality.
Considering that there's something of a parallel there with the Sudetenland, it's hardly farcical. It doesn't have to be 100%
exactly like it to be a valid comparison. We also have what previously happened in Eastern Europe with the Iron Curtain, which you seem to be just ignoring in the face of Russia pulling some Chinese-style "historical connection" bullshit to justify expanding wherever it pleases.
Russia already has the CSTO, it doesn't need to annex other nations in Central Asia because it already works with them, and the only parts of Eastern Europe besides Ukraine that they might have eyes on are NATO members, which is a different issue from Ukraine (not in NATO, and not an ally).
They never "needed" to annex or set up puppet regimes in any of the countries that they have done so in, yet they certainly wanted to and did so. I also doubt if Russia will let membership in NATO deter them much, since so much of their game plan seems to be in getting NATO to either break itself up (as you yourself have advocated for, if memory serves), or to test the resolve in its member nations to see if they'll actually do anything. What they're doing with Ukraine is probably part of that, specifically because they can fall back on its lack of membership to defend itself politically, while also gauging what the response from NATO is. It looks like Germany has been successfully compromised, and other countries, the US included, have been forced to walk things back, thus showing a lack of resolve, which might signal other possibilities later.
We are only screwing around in Ukraine to try to screw with Russia after their rebels downed that Malaysian airliner on accident.
Yeah, like that's not a big deal or anything. Plus, totally sure it was all just an accident, really we swear.
Ukraine and the situation around it would be made better if the US just went hands off, and told Europe it's their problem. Of course, Europe has also started to realize they can do their own diplomacy and not need to run everything by/through DC, as was showing in the 4 party talks between France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine.
Yeah, how's that going?
If we want to beef up troops in the Baltics, Balkans, and Poland, there is no issue, as those are NATO members, and it should help keep Russia from getting any ideas about trying for other places in eastern Europe.
We'll see. After all, if we simply give Russia a free had in Ukraine (because fuck those people, apparently), why wouldn't we walk things back on Poland or those other Baltic states? I mean, what do we get out of it, right?
What about NATO expansionism?
Are you for real? NATO isn't "expanding" by letting other countries join the alliance, and Russia isn't acting as a "check" on anything - they're a bully that's taking over other countries in an effort to get their old Soviet empire back along with the respect it commanded from the rest of the world (you know, for doing evil shit), even if the government isn't socialist anymore. Dude, you're seriously coming off like a Russian shill here.