this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2024
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They absolutely didn't. In fact, Putin ruled out war against Ukraine on many occasions, both before and after the invasions of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.
Up until the tanks crossed the border people didn't believe Russia would invade because they couldn't believe the Russians could be that stupid. To concoct a plot on such a massive scale with a payoff that relied on the rank idiocy of Russian command doesn't seem very smart
Well...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prelude_to_the_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine
Are you denying this happened?
Personally I thought these demands weren't too outrageous. With the outright rejection it was clear to me that an invasion was very likely.
Weather it all "doesn't seem smart" or "is stupid" doesn't really matter. What is pissing me off though is that the US is doing things like that all the time except the "intellectuals" always listen to their reasons and repeat them. But if others act in the exact same way it's just amoral. What bothers me isn't so much the bigotry (one set of rules for us, another for the others), but that this way any attempt at peaceful diplomatic resolution is prevented. This makes it war propaganda. You want to negotiate with terrorists?
Really our western civilization hasn't learned a damn thing.
December 2021 is two months before the invasion, not "years", like you wrote previously. I agree that once the Russians stationed their army at the Ukrainian border and threatened to invade, that the invasion became fairly predictable.
Russia wanted to dictate the military movements and foreign policy of nine countries, otherwise they would attack a different country from those nine. I don't believe anyone has ever tried to pull a more outrageous stunt. Those demands were meant to provide cover for aggression, not to start a negotiation. It worked on you.
The last time the USA waged a war to take territory from a neighbour was in 1848, nearly two hundred years ago, and I don't think they've ever made demands of one country and then waged war on a completely different country when they weren't met. They do not, in fact, do things like that all the time. You can object to a lot of what the USA does, but even at their worst, they don't act like this.
For someone who criticizes others for accepting justifications for war, you sure are very accepting of justifications for war, provided the Russians are the ones doing the justifying.
Of course Russia is playing games but it's a lie that the US and the western colonial powers don't do the same thing. This is geopolitics. That's is not moral relativism, it's just historical facts.
If you are unwilling to negotiate and compromise with your enemy and rather go to war, then that's a consequence based on your action.
And to justify this you need to adopt actual fascist ideology based on the myth that the US and Nato, when they do the exact same things, somehow have good reasons. Because we are "pure" and "moral". But when others, "inferior" cultures do it it's just terrorism or aggression. And they can't be trusted so negotiation is useless.
I'm just shocked how well that propaganda still works. We haven't learned a god damn thing.
Who went to war in Ukraine?
But they don't do the exact same things. The USA and NATO don't annex parts of other countries.
I was being generous, obviously the US is far worse in terms of body count, injuries, displaced people, devastation and ruined countries, regimes changed and democracies suppressed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States#21st-century_wars
Of course Russia sees Ukraine joining Nato as an act of aggression. They said this and that they won't tolerate it. They said it over and over again. And Ukraine put it in their constitution and warmongers like Stoltenberg kept encouraging them. This was all put in motion in 2014 already.
You can say the war is worth it to not loose Crimea and in order to damage and isolate Russia. Ukraine certainly did think so, they wanted a permanent irrevocable break from any interference from Russia. They knew the war was coming and didn't want to negotiate. Fine.
Personally I'd have preferred a compromise and have peace and a chance for improved relations later. Call me a pacifist.
Taiwan seems to be next on the agenda, since the US is gung ho on making it their "close military partner" in their strategy to encircle China. If you don't learn from history you're doomed to repeat it.