You are right, Soviet who is more rational backed down. If no one backed down, we won"t be discussing this today.
Geopolitics determined the actions of a country. Landlocked, Crimea is critical to the security of Russia. Belarus, as good as part of Russia, was not a threat. Ukraine became impossible for Russia cos of security concerns. It only need Ukraine to say joining NATO can be delayed indefintely and this war will likely not happened. The pride of the Ukraine President led to Ukrainian lives loss. And I am not saying Putin is right to invade Uraine.
