Oh that's right they're not in NATO, good point. Putin just wanted them not to join, because they were considering it from what I understand. I think maybe that's why Putin made his move now, before Ukraine officially joined NATO?

The Russian stock market just permanently halted trading for all markets, I heard. For an indefinite amount of time. After it fell 45% or so. And the value of the ruble is crashing.

The sanctions are coming out hardcore from the west, but I'm not sure how much good it will do. I just hope they stop at the Donbass region and don't try to take Kiev. They were attacking a military airport near Kiev with a half-dozen helicopters though.

I imagine China will eventually side with Russia over this, but Russia is going to lose a lot of European commerce. Not sure if it will impact them enough to make them stop taking land. The best way this could work out is that Russia takes the Donbas region, stops, and then in 5 years everything is back to normal. Kind of like how China successfully took Tibet. If they overreach, it's going to be bad though.