American volunteers went down to Texas to fight with them against Mexico, but our government had zero to do with it. They provided nothing, and even the Texas cannons were bought with private funds, so yea, that was very fucking different. It was not a proxy war between powers, but a very elemental rebellion against a distant and tyrannical central government.
I know people like to believe that it was Russian speakers in Donbas that rose up against Kiev, but I have also seen quite a bit of ink spilled where it is claimed they were Russian troops in civilian cloths who basically seized town halls and police stations. I'm skeptical it was any kind of popular rebellion. But it really doesn't fucking matter. Putin invaded because he could. He's been quite open about wanting to reconstitute the USSR. He considers all of Ukraine his, and I kind of do too. They're all "Russians" as far as I'm concerned. I know that rubs people the wrong way, but they all were "the enemy" when I was a kid and serving.
I don't fucking know, and neither does anyone else. I think I'm in the majority in wanting to stay the fuck out of it, because there aren't any "good guys" to support. There are, however, a shitton of innocent civilians getting pummeled, so I'm with the President on just wanting the killing to stop, on no other grounds but basic humanity. Hopefully he can get it done. If not, oh well, not worth WWIII over it anyway.