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You do realize that things can always get worse? A humiliation of Russia might make you feel better about having a sword over your head, but you might be safer to try and keep the guy holding the sword feeling calm and secure rather than goading him. This isn't a game - if Americans really believe they're on the brink, they're not acting like it.
Of course it's not. People are dead.
Appeasement, in other words? They've been bold enough to push their luck, I don't see why we shouldn't be too.
Any time one side thinks it's not on the brink, the missiles fly. Refraining from annihilation is what 'on the brink' looks like.
If anything, being on the brink would make a nuclear exchange more likely. People are more likely to resort to violence or extreme measures when they feel their back is against the wall and they don't have any options. If Russia does not believe it could defend itself in a conventional war, and that the United States intends to destroy their country (which are both true, btw), they will look to non-conventional means of defense.
Escalation in Ukraine makes nuclear war substantially more likely, not less likely. Russia is more likely to resort to nuclear warfare if other options are not available to it. This is not to say that we should be willing to sacrifice all our interests in order to reduce the risk of a nuclear exchange. However, I do not think that humiliating Russia is actually in our interests, and if it increases the chance of nuclear war, we should avoid doing it. Your personal desire to see others degraded and humbled means nothing to me. Go kill ants if that's what gives you pleasure.
I don't think that the invasion of Ukraine is anything about Russia pushing their luck (beyond the more general principle that war is inherently unpredictable).
In other words, I oppose invading Russia and launching ICBMs at Moscow.
Let me spell it out more plainly then. You don't appease your enemies, you destroy them. The nuclear stalemate means that neither side can destroy the other's forces directly at the moment, but both like to engage in proxy wars, such as Ukraine. When Ukraine blows up a Russian tank, that's one less tank with which they can menace me. And they did it for free, so good on them. Get the picture?
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