Nobody knows how much longer Ukraine‘s status as an independent nation will continue, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has put himself in position to be the decisive factor on the issue. He has done so despite the protests of the weakest American chief executive since Jimmy Carter was president during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

For Carter, the sight of Russian tanks rolling into Afghanistan was a wakeup call. He reversed some of the ill-advised defense decisions he had made and took the crucial first steps in the U.S. defense buildup that President Reagan wisely continued and expanded. Reagan’s policies ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War and the creation of an American military capable of protecting U.S. interests around the world.