One thing coming out of this is how spineless the German's have been and how addicted they are to the natural gas flowing out of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
They've caved and blocked the expulsion of Russia from the SWIFT banking network and today just declared that Ukraine entry into NATO is off the table. While yes, NATO rules do say any country with border conflicts would not be considered for entry into NATO, having your foreign minister rule that out in a joint press conference with Putin moments before he is likely to invade, and when Putin demanded a resolution the Ukraine NATO question, is complete cowardice and appeasement at best, and sends the complete wrong message to an aggressor moments away from an invasion. Putin in show no way be dictating other countries foreign policies for them.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...rd-2022-01-21/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-ne...invasion-news/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/li...08093848aaefa9