Morning Max. You have missed a very important point. NATO knew that Russia was going to invade Ukraine if NATO did not give explicit assurances to Russia that NATO would not expand into Ukraine. NATO refused, even though they knew what the possible consequences of that decision might have been. That makes NATO an agitator/enabler, because the membership process of NATO is slightly less important than the lives of 100s of thousands of people on both sides and a completely destroyed country. Russia dug their heals in. NATO dug their heals in. Responsibility for the disaster had to be shared to a certain extent. Neither party is completely innocent.
Crimea was a gift to the Ukraine SSR, not the 'Independent State of Ukraine.'
I live in a real world, where stronger and more powerful get what they want most of the time. That's a fact. Avoiding/ reducing the damage in the process is what I am interested in.
