Demands by Russia were disingenuous, because they would never have been honored. And I doubt honoring them wouldn't have stopped anything.
I don't understand why anyone thinks that Russia thought that Ukraine was anywhere near joining NATO.
IMO, because this is how all of Putin's propaganda has framed it. NATO is some big bully ("Nazi") that keeps "aggressing" by letting sovereign countries liberalize and freely associate with the West. The shameless destruction of Ukraine is right in line with the authoritarian autocrats's imperative - turn the place into a burnt out shithole so it can be better ruled over, and so that reactionary survival values become relevant again.
The fate of Ukraine is (regrettably) solely in the hands of the Ukrainians at this point, but Russia's crass action is also an attack on the ethos of our Western society - cooperation, openness, democracy, and the rule of law - however flawed they end up being. I would say that Putin's chest thumping at other countries is just intended to make the western world feel relieved when only Ukraine gets conquered, but I feel that's coming from the same optimistic-rational place as the idea that there wasn't going to be a full scale invasion in the first place.
Yes and no: It's true for now, but it will turn out to have been optimistic when he takes the next one[1].
Wonder how long the West is going to go on falling for it? Until he dies of natural causes, at far too high an age[2], or well beyond -- when an equally Stalinesque / Hitleresque successor is firmly ensconced and keeps on doing it?
___
[1]: And the next, and the next, and...
[2]: That is, anything above about fifty.
Russia reaction is basically the reaction of anyone cornered, something Sun Tzu warned about, if someone is cornered they will fight back hard because they can't retreat, they can only go forward, through whoever is cornering them.
Ukraine has been bulking up their army with help from various, especially NATO, countries since Russian invaded, conquered, and purportedly annexed a big part of their country in 2014 (and assisted with the occupation by anti-government forces of other parts) and they didn't have the capacity for meaningful, much less successful, resistance.
The Ukrainian military buildup was a situation of Russia’s own making.
From memory, in total, western airforces had to block Russian fighters entering their sovereign territory 240 times in 2021. French fighters were sent several times to stop Russian fighters in the English Channel, e.g. 2000 km from their base.
Then you can add Russia submarines nosing around, spy vessels desguised as fishing vessels going close to points of military interests (for example, when one of the 6 French nuclear submarines dive from its base nearby Brest on the Atlantic Ocean, tens of French fishing vessels are invited to circle around to mask the submarine noise. Every time, there are Russian fish vessels popping up that very day.
In the last decade, Russia has been testing our detection capacities, speed of reaction, going as far as receiving summation fires from Western fighters.
Russia has been in an aggressive attitude for at leat the past decade. That must stop.
I think Sweden should join NATO. Finland is a more complicated case, since they already have a specific agreement with Russia and are so vulnerable. They may prefer the status quo.
What, do you mean the Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948[1]? That ended in 1992, and "[w]hen in January 1992 the new Treaty of Friendship was complemented by the exchange of notes terminating the 1948 treaty, the last remnant of restrictions on an independent Finnish foreign policy were formally removed."[2]
> and are so vulnerable. They may prefer the status quo.
I doubt it.[3] The Finns have been vulnerable to Russia before, and know how to hold a grudge. A majority[4] is for membership now.
On Friday the fifth of March (I think it was), the Eduskunta -- the Finnish Parliament -- debated NATO membership. And not one, but two Citizens' Initiatives that have each gathered enough signatures to make (further?) parliamentary discussion mandatory.
___
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finno-Soviet_Treaty_of_1948
[2]: https://web.archive.org/web/20181125193537/https://www.forei...
[3]: Source: Personal experience; lived here for 27 years now.
If you're "cornered" because your neighbours feel a need to defend themselves from your aggression, the problem isn't with them but with you.
But:
>>> the amount of NATO weaponry in or near Ukraine.
This was specifically about this conflict.
What Russia feared was some sort of non-NATO but friendly partnership deal that might see NATO weapons in Ukraine. Actual membership wasn't the issue.