Of course it would be better, but the US has no credibility and Russia is powerful enough to do what it wants.
Also, do you believe Russia negotiates in good faith?
So the German invasion of Russia never happened and the Cold War was a dream. OK.
Nazi Germany was not part of the Western alliance. The Cold War was not about taking over Russia.
Von Clausewitz famously wrote (1827~) “War is merely the continuation of politics by other means”. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is Clausewitz writ large.
Russia, unable to gain over many years a single diplomatic concession from the US and its puppet regime in Ukraine, as to Russia’s red-lines: no further eastward expansion of NATO, a neutral Ukraine (like Finland), observing the Minsk agreement re Donbass, and recognising Crimea as de-facto part of Russia, it has gone to war.
That is totally tragic and totally barbarous.
The intransigent, reckless failure of the West to recognise and address Russia’s rational security concerns, swayed by rabidly anti-Russian US neocons, is a failure of diplomacy of historic proportions, noted by many commentators including US generals.
The US and NATO have led Ukraine up a garden path to ruin with promises of an anti-Russian sovereignty and a NATO protection which could never be kept, as this war so tragically confirms. For Russia this war is their Clausewitzian diplomacy, but again, even more disastrously, the West and Ukraine still refuse to engage, as if we actually have a choice. WW3 because Ukraine cannot be neutral?.
I am truly fearful, why isn’t everyone???
Putin does not only want a neutral Ukraine, he could have gotten that without invading it, so strong was the threat, or just by crossing the border and threatening to go further.
I would have accepted a neutralized Ukraine. Putin wants a no democratic vassalised Ukraine.
Ukraine did not ratify the Minsk agreement, No Ukrainian government would have survived proposing that.
the first to violate international agreements was Russia when she invaded Crimea. When Ukraine gave its nuclear weapons to Russia in 1991/1994, Russia guaranteed Ukraine international borders.
In fact, USA did also and USA could go to war to help Ukraine not violating international law.
For Putin, the fall os USSR is the greatest political disaster of the 20th century, and he wants to rebuild Russian empire.
And he never accepted the legitimacy of the Ukrainian state.
Again:
Some basic facts about Putin:
- He was baptized and raised by a very devout mother
- He was an officier of KGB in East Germ:any and has been humiliated by the conditions in which KGB had to leave RDA
- For him, the fall of USSR ans of the communist system is the more severe disaster of the XXth century
- He is an authoritarian, with very conservative views about society and morale
-He is an enemy of West seen as feeble, decadent and corrupt.
Given these facts, he is admired by the ultra right, who supports him and which he supports. And as enemy of occident, he is admired by a part of the ultra-left.
Both sides look at him look through the small end of the telescope and support him for bad reasons.
It is not because one had ideological affinities with a man that this man cannot lier, act wrongly and that his enemies are in the wrong.
further, Putin
- has mass killed Chechens, but it was admitted because they were Islamistes and terrorists,
- he has attacked Georgia and taken 20 % of its territory, but Georgia attacked first and is far, and West could not do much.
- has mass killed in Syria, but he was supporting Assad, who was fighting Islamistes terrorists, and Syria is far and we could not do much.
In fact, in 3 instances, he did what he wanted, reached his aims and West let him act. Why would it be otherwise with Ukraine ?
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What are you talking about? NATO cannot offer Ukraine protection from Russian expansion because it has no agreement with Ukraine. If it did, Russia would be defeated by now.
The point is that NATO is a mutual defence pact, not a mutual aggression pact. No one needs to fear NATO but it is abundantly clear that individual nations do need to fear Russia! It was Ukraine’s fear of Russia that made them ask to become a NATO member in the first place.
Democracies are democratic by choice, not by coercion and are not expansionist other than in trade and culture. And to a dictator that is a threat to his rule because autocracies are not democracies and dictators rule by fear not by free election.
How many Russian protesters are in Russian (not Ukrainian) jails today?
More than 13,000 anti-war protesters arrested in Russia | TheHill
](https://thehill.com/policy/international/russia/597382-more-than-13000-anti-war-protesters-arrested-in-russia)
Compare this to Tucker Carlson’s seditionist speech. He can spout his vile lies unabated until it is his bosses who need to shut him up. The US has freedom of speech.
And you are defending Putin’s motives? C’mon, you have to be kidding.
The concern I hear is that they think we want to invade them. That’s unfounded
I don’t know where people get these crazy ideas. You cannot invade Russia. Many have tried and no one has ever succeeded. Hitler tried and succeeded until winter set in. The entire Russian land mass is much too big to control.
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler predicted a quick victory, but after initial success, the brutal campaign dragged on and eventually failed due to strategic blunders and harsh winter weather , as well as a determined Soviet resistance and attrition suffered by German forces.May 5, 2021
Clarification: I hear Putin being concerned about this, and by extension, djtexas. Everything else stems from this belief. i.e. if the US/neocons/anti-XXX people want to take Russia down, then they would ignore the Minsk agreement, seek NATO expansion, etc.
To me, and most reasonable people, the opposite is true; Russia wants to expand back into former USSR territories, so they negotiate a treaty while attacking a border, they point to 30-year-old agreements that were made with more reasonable leaders during a time of increasing peace, and they make up crap.
The U.S. does not have that kind of power or influence over Russia, especially Putin. We didn’t have it with Stalin and we didn’t have it during the Cold War. There wouldn’t have been a Cold War or WWII for that matter if we did. Keep in mind, the U.S. was not involved in WWII until Pearl Harbor was bombed.
It’s not up to Putin as to who joins NATO or the UN nor is it up to him what country belongs to him or not. The Ukraine is no more Russia than Prussia is. They are just as much of a country as Lithuania is and are free to make their own decisions as a country or at least they should be able to.
Change that to irrational. Anti-Russia? Oh please! Please go back into your history books. Russia has always been a danger. Seems to me you are truly misguided when it comes to Russia. You either fell for the Russian Propaganda on RT, Fox News, Newsmax etc or you are a Russian infiltrator whose job is to spread Russian Propaganda, forcing conversations to be spun in the direction favouring Russian Propaganda and lies, attempting to get people to believe it.
The anti russian hysteria is turning up a notch everyday . Facebook amd instragram allowing hate speech against all Russians
Thats tired old cold war junk thinking. In todays world , you think Russia can occupy all those USSR lands not to mention NATO countries!!!
Please
USA couldnt even occupy weak countries such as afganistan and iraq
Because that’s not our goal.
How is it that you can watch Russia move into Ukraine, then say they don’t want to do that?
Russia in ukraine is one thing but russia in Nato countries? Thats crazy talk
What does that mean? Are you just stringing together words and calling it conversation?
Tex is simply confused, very confused and cold hearted.
The casualness with which people love vandalizing and destroying what others spend years building never ceases to astound me.
Now in its third week of invading Ukraine, Russia is expanding its attacks to new areas. Col. Jack Jacobs lays out the military response.
I didn’t say he could, I said he wants to. He’s not doing very well against a rag tag army
It’s not anti-Russian. The Russians , especially in this case, are the bad guys. Or rather Putin is, because this is Putin’s war, not the Russians. Many Russians, who know Putin invaded and started the war, want nothing to do with and want Putin to stop. Then there are other Russians who buy Putin’s propaganda and/or spread Putin’s propaganda.
No Lausten is right. Putin does want the old Cold War territories back and will do so with an iron fist… or a hammer and sickle, whichever makes Putin happy.
Or he’s a Russian propaganda plant in love with Putin.