>>It's about taking down the Pax Americana

No real disagreement there - but it's more about our walking away from it. It's been ridiculously expensive for us (in money, lives, and manufacturing jobs). It was originally to 'buy' a counter-USSR alliance, and eventually our own dependence on Persian Gulf oil. But the USSR collapsed 30 years ago - and we've become a net petro exporter (we get about 3% of our oil from the Persian Gulf now).

I disagree on our being 'stuck' in Ukraine. This is all about bleeding the Russians white before they invade a NATO country.