You do realise that your perceived Putin land grab played out over 2 decades from the initial wanting to join NATO to tolerance of NATO expansion of ex-soviet states right up to the existential threat of dealing with a potential backyard NATO member. He has been warning for a decade of such a threat. Under such circumstance, I reckon the intention of your perceived land grab theory hasn't got much logical justifications. Any other leader would be looking for any excuse rather than exhaust all avenue of tolerance.
Unfortunately your reasoning is based on a a resultant bias looking for justifications. I on the other hand did not have any interest until the conflict started then was curious if this Denazification so I decided to do some basic research.
That is where I came across some posters here who under other circumstances would have been thinly curled supporters or believers of putrid Nazis ideology. It seems blanket ignorance by the West of Nazi ideology only apply to inconvenient truths when it suits. You may need to see the contradictions in the Syrian war and Isis. The model is the same, the combatants can be different but I see a consistent contradiction. Hence what is a rebel to one camp is a freedom fighter.
The difference is the western propaganda has whitewash this to be a comic book zero sum game. This is where I refer to those moral mugs or to some a stiff one eye banging on the moral crusade of good v evil in the western manufacturing consensus.
There you have it. Putin has already stated that nobody wins so the Land grab theory is a position looking for the right excuse.
