Russia Ukraine war

Originally posted by eddiebop: ↑

The U.S. and NATO Helped Trigger the Ukraine War. It's Not 'Siding With Putin' to Admit It
Vladimir Putin's decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine is a monstrous act of aggression that has plunged the world into a perilous situation. By any reasonable standard, his move was an over-the-top response to any Ukrainian or NATO provocations. However, that conclusion is different from saying that there were no provocations, as far too many policymakers and pundits in the West are doing now.
It has become especially fashionable in such circles to insist that NATO's expansion to Russia's border was in no way responsible for the current Ukraine crisis. Many dismiss all arguments to the contrary as "echoing Putin's talking points," "siding with Putin," or circulating Russian propaganda and "disinformation." Leaving aside the ugly miasma of McCarthyism enveloping such allegations, the underlying argument is factually wrong.
Russian leaders and several Western policy experts were warning more than two decades ago that NATO expansion would turn out badly—ending in a new cold war with Russia at best, and a hot one at worst. Obviously, they were not "echoing" Putin or anyone else. George Kennan, the intellectual architect of America's containment policy during the Cold War, perceptively warned in a May 2, 1998 New York Times interview what NATO's move eastward would set in motion. "I think it is the beginning of a new cold war," he stated. "I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies. I think it is a tragic mistake."

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I totally reject the argument that Putin's/Russia's invasion of Ukraine was a monstrous act of aggression or that the invasion was an over-the-top response to any Ukrainian or NATO provocations. If you believe that strike out the self-defense rules from the criminal law and condemn JFK for ordering various acts of war (including a naval blockade) during the Cuban missile crisis because, as he said, if Russia and Cuba didn't remove the nuclear weapons threatening America he would invade Cuba to remove them himself. Why? Because as Leader, he was doing his duty to the people of the USA. He was defending his people from an existential threat, as he was duty-bound to do. There is no way in the world that once Ukraine was admitted into NATO the USA and NATO would have resisted moving into Ukraine nuclear and biological weapons to use against Russia and Russians. You dont believe me? Ask the neocon supporters in this forum if they would accept Russia's/China's assurance not to put nuclear weapons threatening the USA in Mexico/Cuba/Jamaica/Haiti etc if Russia/China assembled an army in those countries as part of a "defensive" military alliance they had with those countries. They'll tell you NO WAY would they accept that assurance. Ask Scott Morrison who lost his sh*t when there was a suggestion that China might set up a base in the Solomons. An existential threat the Aust Govt said at the time and was backed up by that shameless hypocrite Blinken.

No this is real politics. Putin/Russia delayed for over 20 years (since 2008) trying everything to avoid going to war (including the Minsk agreement) but there comes a point when in real politics you need to make the hard decision for the protection of your people. Russia's/Putin's conduct in this matter was exemplary and the monsters you speak of are the monsters of the USA/NATO/EU/UK who deliberately provoked this war knowing that they would never accept for themselves the conditions that they were trying to force on Russia.