A brief piece posing some questions which it doesn't fully answer. For example he questions.....Why, on the eve of the invasion, did Putin propose to the NATO powers a security arrangement that, inter alia, involved Ukrainian neutrality (ie. not becoming a member of NATO)? This was presented as an explicit condition for not invading and was immediately rebuffed by NATO without any discussion or negotiation. Presumably he's talking about what has been variously described as Putin's smokescreen/ultimatum and list of demands of 17th December 2021 which Putin knew could and would never be agreed to....all the while massing his troops which he/Russia repeatedly claimed had no intention of invading Ukraine....... Among the demands in his Ultimatum the ridiculous and completely unrealistic demand insisting "that NATO deploy no forces or weapons in countries that joined the alliance after May 1997". How realistic and workable was that ? He's claiming Putin's Ultimatum and List of Demands was immediately rebuffed by NATO without any discussion. I understand a formal response to Putin's Ultimatum and Demands was issued by the US and NATO on the 26 January 2022, after many meetings and various discussions with the involved/affected parties.
