As noted in the article, Biden is following an Obama policy that predates Russia's invasion by years. Obama in 2016 specifically rejected escalation in Ukraine, because the Donbas is not militarily nor economically strategic for the US.

Thanks for the link. The difference between the US' and Russia's stance on the use of nuclear weapons is stark - and makes the US look more aggressive.

Russia says they'll use nuclear weapons if they believe the existence of the country is at stake. We (the US) say we reserve the right to use them in conventional war - not as a last resort in an existential fight.

This is not a trivial difference. It is made even less trivial by the fact - not opinion - that in the last 30 years the US has massively increased troops and weapons stationed in border countries to Russia. Russia (nor China) has troops in Mexico or Canada. Neither Mexico nor Canada are part of a US-hostile military alliance.

NATO was created to counter the Soviet Union. The fact that it has continued to expand onto the borders of Russia, 30+ years after the Soviet Union ceased to exist, makes it feel threatening to Russia. It does not matter how many times someone says, "NATO is only defensive." Russia feels threatened by NATO and specifically NATO eastward expansion, and has said so since Boris Yeltsin's government in the mid-90s.

The US and the west would do ourselves and the world a favor by remembering what the word "Detenté means and using it.