The neocon/neolib knew it would happen too. The difference is neocon/neolib want this war to happen. Putin's 2 separate letters to Biden and NATO on 12/14/2021 is his last effort to avoid the war. But Biden admin believe economic and financial means will defeat Russia, weaken Russia and therefore lead to regime change in Russia. Regime change is neocon's core strategy of our foreign policy even we have had very poor track record in regime change.