"If you seek a pleasant peninsula, stay away from Ukraine." ;)

What's all this competition about, anyway? Has anyone stopped watching football long enough to ask?

The West is trying to pretend that all of the posturing and cashflows still matter to the future, but in doing so, all of this competitive consumptionism is using up the air and the minerals. If the climate doesn't kill everyone off, all Russia has to do is sit tight and wait for the rest of the world to burn, flood and eat each other. It has vast land resources untapped because they were frozen, with few people. Putin won't live forever.

China is building the Belt and Road to establish communication lines through Africa (the other untapped lands), and Russia will be thawing out.

Why is everyone so eager to accelerate consumption with war?

Because people are stupid.