Incoming tl;dr - but like you say, history is hard.
I'm puzzled where you're getting the idea that we're sending Russia all this money.
--The United States hasn't imported any natural gas from Russia since 2019, imported minimal amounts of oil prior to 2022, and has now implemented a full ban on Russian oil imports.
--Hundreds of billions in overseas Russian assets have been frozen. There's active discussions about mechanisms to seize some or all of the assets permanently.
--Multiple American and European companies have exited operations in Russia entirely.
--Russia is at this point the most embargoed country in the world.
--Flights to and from Russia have been severely curtailed, much to the chagrin of the hundreds of thousands of Russians currently trying to flee.
It's not the United States, but rather, countries like Germany that have a whole lot more to answer for, in terms of foolishly staking so much of their economy and, especially, energy supply upon a reckless dictatorship. Germany & Co. are now transitioning away from Russian energy as quickly as they can, but it will be painful. In the meantime, I do agree the U.S. and Canada should be pumping more oil/gas to make up the shortfall. Well-founded and longstanding concerns about climate change should nonetheless take a backseat to the immediate geopolitical crisis.
And yet: In spite of all these aggressive sanctions, and rising levels of chaos in his own country, Putin continues to prosecute his silly war.
So, in addition to all of the above economic pressure, we're sending Ukraine arms so they can defend themselves. Why not? We send arms to far more odious and repressive regimes like Saudi Arabia all the time.
What we *haven't* sent is American boots on the ground. We *haven't* had to spill American blood to defend Ukrainian freedom. Or even Polish or Lithuanian blood.
Isn't that fantastic?
Like it or not, Biden has put together a comprehensive and coordinated strategy to defend Ukraine and to shield our Eastern European allies from further Russian aggression. It's the polar opposite of the appeasement policy that Neville Chamberlain extended to Hitler at Munich.
And, by the way, it's all a dress rehearsal for the same kinds of actions we're going to need to take to defend if/when China starts stomping on neighbors in East Asia, as they may try to do this century.
