> With NATO effectively being able to shut down all Russian sea travel and make Russia's only "diplomatic tool" other than it's strategic nuclear arsenal irrele

> With NATO effectively being able to shut down all Russian sea travel and make Russia's only "diplomatic tool" other than it's strategic nuclear arsenal irrelevant we are not heading into a pleasant direction. Why is Russia entitled to imperial pretenses when they are no longer an empire? I get what you are saying and it does make sense up to NATO is making territorial hay while the unipolar sunshine lasts, but where it stops making sense is why is Russia entitled to buffer zones etc. Why isn't Poland entitled to the same, for example. Or should people across the water from St. Petersburg complain about Russian naval activity so close to them? We would laugh at all this since (reality check) they are not "powers". Russia demands to be treated like a "power", its propaganda sites are entirely silent as to why every nation that was liberated from USSR's empire is more than grateful for having their nomnal independence back, etc. The second thing to note here is that it is Russia, Russian propaganda sites, and a minority western critical voices that have raised the stakes from literally some minor local action to threats of "Nuclear War" and "WWIII". Regardless of how one feels about the clearly aggressive actions of the West in the past 2 decades, to mistake Russia for some kind of peacenik nation, or the Russian Yoke as a gentle alternative to bankster international is a gross error, in my opinion.