I'll agree about hating violence, and I'm afraid of saying something careless that can be mistaken as promoting or supporting it. So taking the risk, I'll say that one man's violence is another man's self defense. If somebody is kidnapped in a non-violent way, is it acceptable to resort to violence to escape? If Canada or Mexico had decided to join the Warsaw Pact, was the USA to accept it because they are a sovereign country? If Russia were with permission to install missiles in Cuba, do we let them do it to avoid the risk of violence? I went through school back when they taught the 3 Rs, and also was taught that the USA never starts wars and reluctantly joins them only when it's for a righteous cause. I've since seen that the USA frequently starts wars and it's usually about gaining money and power one way or another. I can easily see that Russia can feel backed into a corner and might be responding out of fear, which may be real or imagined. Fear responses are often irrational. It sure looks like the western countries have stoked that fear. I don't think this would have blown up at all if Trump were still in power, and I think Trump's attitude about Ukraine in NATO would be to say that we love Ukraine and would like to have them in NATO, but Russia deserves to not have the threat of the western military sitting on their border, so it's best for Ukraine to stay out of NATO and we won't love them any less for it.
? Seriously, there are so many different ways of looking at this that I can't find any clarity of what to think. On one hand, I think private corporations should be able to make decisions about their business without any interference. On the other hand, those that are monopolies or have a vital product shouldn't be able to carelessly, or with intent to do harm, withhold a basic need. Once they cross the line of manipulating or controlling foreign affairs, that's too far. There are so many things open to interpretation in what I just said that even agreeing with it leaves it wide open to debate. My greater concern is USA corporations using these tactics against US citizens. You have raised a very good question, and I do not have an answer for it other than on an individual level I do think retaliation is legitimate, and that is in the form of educating others and not using a corporation's product.
