The sole reason for Russia-Ukraine war is that Putin wanted to invade.  He was ego-driven to emulate his hero Peter the Great, always resented the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989-91 and felt it was up to him to resurrect Russian expansionism.

Obviously, his intelligence was totally wrong in that he thought that Ukraine would collapse in a matter of days and that the Russians would be welcomed as liberating heroes. With that kind of intelligence, who needs stupid? I assume those that advised him on this are long gone from his government, perhaps in Siberia

What he did not count on is how fast and firmly NATO, with support from the United States, has stood by Ukraine. Putin expected sanctions, but perhaps not the degree to which they were implemented. I am sure he didn’t expect the widespread exodus of US and European companies from Russia, nor the massive “brain drain” the invasion has triggered.

Likely his biggest surprise was the tens of billions of dollars of military weapons supplied to Ukraine by its allies.

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Once again, the US is spending a large amount of money to provide military and humanitarian support to a country other than ours. I have long felt that our country was spending too much to prop up countries at the expense of necessary spending on our own infrastructure, health care and education. However, this is the last battle of the “cold war” of the 20th century.

I admit that I was blindsided by the Russian invasion. I never thought there would be another land war in Europe in my lifetime, which meant that my mini-eBook about 2022, published the first week of 2022, was off in several forecasts.

In a fun, hypothetical column I did last week for my newsletter – entitled “Happy Thanksgiving 2026” – I wrote this:

“The rebuilding of Ukraine is well underway. The complete rebuilding of infrastructure was recently completed, and the rebuilding of housing and shopping areas of the cities continues. Of course, this follows the removal of Putin in 2023, the falling price of oil throughout 2023 and the final Russian defeat in 2024, with the full reclamation of all Ukrainian territory including what was lost in the 2014 conflict. The initial rebuild was funded by tens of billions of dollars captured from during the sanctions of 2022-2023. The World Bank has led the $1 trillion international rebuilding fund put in place in 2025.”

I do think this suggestive future has a high probability of happening. I also think that regardless of when the war ends, Russia will have become a second-tier nation in a downward spiral. Remember, before the invasion, the Russian GDP was the same as New York State. That’s what you get when a country is run by a dictator who has delusions of international grandeur.

The US must do two things.  First, it must lean hard on our NATO allies to increase their support of Ukraine. Right now, US support dwarfs any individual EU country. Second, we must continue the full support of the Ukrainian military as they fight for their country.

A big, public failure by Russia for Putin’s invasion will happen, eventually.  A Russian defeat will increase the prospects of peace around the world.

As I wrote in my last column here, post-election, Americans must stop hating each other. We need to start to treat each other as Americans, not the enemy.  Our country has three significant current and future geopolitical “enemies”:  China, Russia and Saudi Arabia.  All three are countries that the US can easily face down if we are united in that effort.  That is one big reason for ending the hating of the “other” political party.

Yet both political parties are lost within themselves. A group of progressive Democrats in Congress has proposed that the US must bring Ukraine and Russia to the negotiation table to set up peace. On the other hand, there are Republican members in the House who are questioning our support of Ukraine. Putin looks at such stupid political games and smiles.

Our support of Ukraine is support for democracy, freedom and a more secure EU, which is the largest economy in the world when all countries are taken as a whole. Putin is a bad actor whose image was much more powerful pre-invasion than it is now. His failure to date seems to be inhibiting China’s aggression against Taiwan and makes China question why they want to side with an emperor who has no clothes.

The US is still the best hope for humanity’s future, if we can act together as Americans and not as warring Democrats and Republicans. Tell your elected officials that Ukraine winning the war is more important than any political positioning about it.

We are Americans first, party members second, or third or fourth or fifth.  Our future will be a better one if we all act as such.

NOTE TO READERS: In this space at the Herald-Tribune I write future-focused columns through a local filter. I have just launched a newsletter that covers many topics not covered here. You can sign up at Evolutionshift.substack.com.

Sarasota resident David Houle is a globally recognized futurist. He has given speeches on six continents, written 13 books and is futurist in residence at Ringling College of Art and Design. His websites are davidhoule.com and the2020sdecade.com. Email him at david@davidhoule.com.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Why the Russia- Ukraine War is so important for our future | The Futurist