It's the old "Just don't mind the bullies.", "They will get tired of it eventually.", "The smarter person retreats.", etc. The mindset that is grilled into so many people since childhood to be the bigger person, not to fight the bullies with the same strength, making excuses for their behavior instead of teaching them how to behave like a normal person.

The problem is that this mindset relies on the premise that one will eventually not have to encounter the bully anymore, the school will end, you will move someplace else and the bully will become somebody else's problem. It doesn't take into account that if the bully is not taught a lesson they will continue the same behavior, just with different victims. The bully from the schoolground that was not taught as a child that his behavior is unacceptable in normal society because he lives in terrible home situation, poor him, will move on to abuse and perhaps murder some woman, but we will just make some excuse how nobody could see that coming and how that is probably the victim's fault anyway.

And then people who got used to thinking like this just go and apply the same to countries like Russia, not considering that the countries that have the misfortune to exist near them can't just fucking get up and move somewhere else. If countries like the USA lived near countries with terrorist medieval mindset, they would probably think differently, but that is a privilege they rarely admit to.