Agreed about the slaughter for 8 years, but there are no good guys. The Russian state and the Davos set are two mafias fighting over turf. The fact that this turf is historically Russian territory gives Russia only a minor fig leaf when you look at the damage they are inflicting today on Ukraine. You're right that Davos is playing a supremely dangerous game, but they have economies that are fully played, and they need to figure out a way to excuse the collapse. A war is the perfect reason: "We would have kept our promises, but the war...!" So they pushed until Russia pushed back, very predictably, so they could blame it all on Russia. This doesn't make the Russian actions good - a lot of people are dying as we speak, and Russia is killing many of them - but this war definitely has two sides, and to think the Davos propaganda of the sweet and innocent Ukrainians is accurate is beyond naive; it's dangerous. If the Russians and Putin are really smart, they will figure out how to wind this down quickly. If they can do that, they may yet end up exposing Davos for the warmongers they are. I'm not holding my breath, though. The Russians are no more cuddly than is Davos.