To keep the number of variables down, I think we need to go along with H's version of Putin and silence Ukraine's wishes. Forget about what Ukraine wants. should it be a neutral buffer zone or not?
If Ukraine remaining forever neutral means that Russia remains forever self-contained, then I think it's obvious that yes, it should remain neutral. We should tell Ukraine, no, you can never join NATO.
JM seems to believe that this would be the case (from the video H linked): Putin just wants to do his thing. Western media's theory that Putin wants to advance his empire only came after 2014. Putin has always been consistent about his fears of NATO expansion. Putin lies to his people but not to other national leaders. We have every reason to believe Putin will keep his cool forever if we don't cross the NATO expansion red line.
The JM version says to take Putin's fears at face value, justified or not, and all is well. The contrary-JM versions say that Putin's public fears are a pretext for justifying "retaliation", when the time is right.
JM says that Western media assumes Putin is in a mad power grab.
On the assumptions of JM's theory, Putin has nothing to fear so long as Ukraine remains neutral. But there are other theories. According to Zehain and his consulting bros. in Texas, there are
9 gaps invaders can leverage to attack Russia that were controlled by the USSR. Russia's population is in massive decline, and to secure itself, it has small window of opportunity to take as much territory as possible to plug the gaps. Zeihan originally predicted it would take 6 months for Russia to beat Ukraine.
Another theory was mentioned by Joe Biden in that Foreign Affairs interview H linked a while back. Putin's popularity as a president may depend on Russian aggression.
(those are intended as reasons that would show Putin's actions as rational, and not based on PTG fantasies)
Social distancing has likely already begun to flatten the curve...Continue to research good antivirals and vaccine candidates. Make everyone wear masks. -- J.D. Vance