Bruno Behrends wrote:I think I can somewhat understand the Russian point of view:
That Russia got somehow 'cheated' of its empire in the wake of the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union and that the West keeps creeping into and infringing on the Russian 'sphere of interest'.
It´s much worse than that. Russia has a very long and distinctive history of invasions coming from the west(and is nowhere remotely as aggressive as is claimed "because everyone knows it is").
Bruno Behrends wrote:And - sorry to say that - the Iraq invasion was actually WORSE than what Putin is doing.
No, really? Are you kidding?
Iraq was invaded based on fake evidence. Russia isn´t invading Ukraine and the situation in Ukraine was created by internal corruption and stupidity over the course of 25 years, while Russia had barely anything to do with it.
Bruno Behrends wrote:Since Iraq the West certainly doesn't have any moral high horse to sit on when it comes to invasions into sovereign countries.
It´s far worse. Ukraine isn´t all that far from the Yugoslavian situation in the 90s.
Then, selfdetermination was everything, but now unity is the only thing that counts because the federalists/separatists are more or less vaguely affiliated with Russia.
Bruno Behrends wrote:There IS a Nazi faction in existence (although Ukraine certainly isn't the only country of which that can be said but its somewhat understandable that it makes Russia nervous).
Of course it´s not the only place with nazis, facists and extreme nationalists, it´s just the only place where they have so freaky much influence in politics.
Estonia and Poland (and to some extent Greece) have even worse ideological groups, but at least they´re not calling shots(literally).
Bruno Behrends wrote:That STILL doesn't change the fact that Russia has no right whatsover to invade Ukraine, to destabilize it, to support and equip Ukrainian rebels, to annex Crimea or to flood everyone with supposed 'look at those Nazis' propaganda.
Except Russia isn´t invading any more than the other way around.
Russia have done far less destabilising than EUSANATO has.
Crimea is a special case because it has been maltreated by the Kiev government and wanted indepence for decades already.
And with Ukraine starting to renege on the Russian basing rights there and the situation overall, i can´t fault Russia for annexation.
It was going to happen eventually.
Bruno Behrends wrote:Such a right simply DOES NOT EXIST.
Ideally, no. But that´s not the right they´re playing with. It´s the right to security and selfdefence.
NATO behaves like a belligerent entity towards Russia.
Your statement is like saying that Germany during the cold war shouldn´t have a military because USSR was never a threat to it.
This is what so many miss, that Russia first of all is a very defensively minded nation, and that EUSANATO gives it reason to become even more paranoid, well that´s not their fault.
Bruno Behrends wrote:Also Russian perception - while it is not altogether wrong isn't altogether objective either
Of course not. But does it matter?
Russia has like i said a long history of getting attacked and invaded from the west, and "the west" is now making it blatantly obvious that that is what they´re doing again, well duh, of course Russia will react.
Bruno Behrends wrote:And the eastern European countries are flocking towards NATO and EU not solely because of supposedly corrupt western influences but also because they are (rightly as Ukraine proves once again) AFRAID OF RUSSIA.
Which is about as sane as being afraid of Germany, France, Italy, Spain or Sweden.
Most nations have histories of warfare.
They equate Russia with USSR, despite the fact that such a thing is outright stupid.
Bruno Behrends wrote:So: One of the core problems of the current conflict (certainly not the only one - but a major one nonetheless) is that Russia seems to perceive it has a right to domination when it simply DOES NOT.
Wrong, Russia is definitely not aiming for domination currently, they are looking towards self defence.