I agree your logic on Taiwan, if a little puzzled you don't seem to apply similar logic to Ukraine. Of course Russia has been preparing for war for decades, so has Germany, Merkel even admitted it. The amount of history that is being denied by our (Western) Ukraine war media is astounding to those of us who know even a fraction of the history, probably most Europeans. It is being lied about in Europe by an aggressive minority controlling pretty much all media.
The scale of the deception has to make us doubtful of everything we hear in Western media about who is doing what to whom Ukraine. The dishonesty of it beggars the imagination.
They can't wipe the memories of everyone knowing the truth, but if folk are scared enough to just not say anything, then the outcome of the lies is the same, they get to dictate a new version of history.