NATO in Ukraine wasn’t a pretext it was (part of) the text. People in the West really seem to think Russia invaded to satisfy some vague desire for evil and villainy. People in the West really seem to think NATO and the EU being in a (proxy) war now with Russia over Ukraine disproves Russian concerns.
It prevents Russia from attacking Finland
Which was never going to happen. Zero reason. Impossible to sell to Russia’s allies on which it so depends, if we believe Western media. (Except now, of course, Finland has gained some nuclear targets on its map, in the event of. That’s the real 5D chess.) So there must be some other punitive quality to a country on the border of Russia becoming part of NATO.
I thought it was because of Nazis in Ukraine.
They just keep changing the message once they get bored and don't even try.
I'm quite certain that Russia is not secretly winning the war, but it's just that nobody can tell because of how great it's going.
Well, sounds like the Ukrainian side is about to start it’s much-anticipated Decisive Battle offensive. The overall picture should become clearer once the dust from that has settled.
His what?
Massing a hundred thousand troops on the border isn’t “last minute” and they had their sights set on a (quick) regime change after a shock and awe campaign to force surrender.
Do you want an apology or something?
From a Russian perspective, Putin gave Ukraine 8 years to build a competitive army, with extensive NATO help. Back then, Russia could have forced a more serious settlement or regime change fairly easily. Maybe it was necessary to wait, to prepare Russian economy for the inevitable wave of sanctions. (Which, I might add, have failed spectacularly in their original, stated intent of bringing Russia to its knees.)
However, it appears that Putin really did hope for the qualified success of settlements as weak as Minsk I/II, or a possible third iteration. Coerced, if necessary. Either way, all that failed and now war is raging and hundreds of thousands of slavs (most of them from Ukraine) are dead, with many more to follow.
This is obviously not an outcome that Putin desired. This is, however, an outcome that seems to make some people in the West very happy indeed. “Weakening Russia” is what they call it, gleefully. And they keep pushing, keep stoking the fire. War is peace.
However, they deeply, fundamentally miscalculated. That will become very apparent over the next decade.
Putin said he will not invade. But he did. Does not matter how you are trying to turn this around. He did invaded and he did lied about it.
It's rather the opposite? It prevents NATO attacks from Finland; given how piss poor of a deterrent the Russian army is now, the nukes will most likely fly in this case.
- Russia invaded under pretext of "we are afraid of NATO".
- It prevents Russia from attacking Finland. They are less likely to attack NATO members and more likely to attack countries outside of the aliance.