The US should be more agressive dealing with Russia

RebuttalsMy opponent's claims are mostly false and all lack evidence. Since he has the BoP I will spend most of my time refuting his statements but will still devote a portion of my round to arguments.My opponent starts with a huge error. He presents a slippery slope when he claims that Russia is becoming more aggressive and might "act more aggressively raising the stakes. Allowing Putin to increase his sphere of influence would be a mistake similar to what Nevile Chamberlain did with Hitler." My opponent contests 3 actions of Russia.1. Supporting Assad's Regime in SyriaRussia, China, and Iran are all staunch supporters of Syria for various reasons. Russia has strong economic and ideological ties to Syria; China also supports Syria for economic reasons [1][2]. This cannot be seen as aggressive, or dangerous to the US in any way. We are not accusing China of being aggressive for supporting Syria. The US also has a history of supporting less than admirable leaders to promote our own ideology like the Containment Policy during the Cold War, and being aggressive to Russia for doing the same thing would be downright hypocrisy.2. Russian Action in UkraineMy opponent makes this claim but provides zero evidence. There is no solid evidence that any Russian soldiers or agents are in Ukraine and this point should be ignored until Pro provides evidence.3. CrimeaBackground on this issue is vital. Crimea was part of the USSR; in 1954 Nikita Khrushchev gave Crimea from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR in a symbolic gesture, which was no big deal at the time, since it was all part of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union then collapsed and Crimea was lost to Ukraine.[4] "Incidentally, the total population of the Crimean Peninsula today is 2.2 million people, of whom almost 1.5 million are Russians, 350,000 are Ukrainians who predominantly consider Russian their native language, and about 290,000-300,000 are Crimean Tatars, who, as the referendum has shown, also lean towards Russia" [4][3][5]. He is referring to the Crimean Referendum where about 96% of voters were for joining Russia. [3]President Putin said "In people"s hearts and minds, Crimea has always been an inseparable part of Russia. This firm conviction is based on truth and justice and was passed from generation to generation, over time, under any circumstances, despite all the dramatic changes our country went through during the entire 20the century."[5]There is also precedent. Kosovo separated from Serbia, without a referendum, and without the approval of the central authorities. The UN International Court said that "No general prohibition may be inferred from the practice of the Security Council with regard to declarations of independence," and "General international law contains no prohibition on declarations of independence."[6] Crimea separating from Ukraine was a fair action.A War with RussiaEscalation of events with Russia could very well result in a Cold War scenario with no guarantee we would win this time. It would surely cost the US economically at a time when we are already economically weak. Anything more would be disastrous. A nuclear war is a worst case scenario and would obviously result in the complete destruction of both countries, possibly lead to the extinction of humanity [7][8]. The US would probably win a conventionally war but it would be an extremely bloody affair, following other wars that the US just fought [8][9]. The American public, and the USA in general, are not prepared for an escalation of events with Russia.[1] http://www.cnn.com...[2] http://en.wikipedia.org...[3] http://en.wikipedia.org...[4] http://en.wikipedia.org...[5] http://eng.kremlin.ru...[6] http://www.icj-cij.org...[7] http://www.nationmaster.com...[8] http://theweek.com...[9] http://www.globalfirepower.com...