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> The higher cause that allegedly justified the invasion of Ukraine was the preservation of the sacred Russian nation. I'm sure there were many reasons, but th

> The higher cause that allegedly justified the invasion of Ukraine was the preservation of the sacred Russian nation. I'm sure there were many reasons, but the one I heard was that Russia said it was committed to defending Russian speaking populations wherever they are and said that the Russian speaking population in Ukraine was being discriminated against it repressed in some fashion. Regardless of the primary reason, it seems these issues are more complex than a single primary motivating factor. For example, why Crimea and not all of Ukraine? Why Ukraine and not another ex-Soviet satellite? Why now? Why not earlier? I'm sure there were lies and disinformation, but I also think the issue is more complex than the author might be suggesting.

pharrington 8y ago
The Crimean peninsula specifically provides direct access to the Black Sea, and in turn humongous economic and military access to southeastern Europe and Turkey.
- dogma1138 8y ago
  Russia has direct access to the Black Sea regardless, Crimea provides them an existing port they don’t want to give up.
- nyolfen 8y ago
  it's also ~90% ethnically russian iirc, and russia fought a very costly war with a lot of nationalist sentiment attached to it to gain control of crimea in the 19th century. these aren't realist school-type rationalizations but they are important context.
dogma1138 8y ago
Crimea has a strategic value to Russia its their largest warm water naval base, the rest of Ukraine is nothing but a liability. They can hold Crimea because it has a large Russian ethnic population and like it or not regardless of the reasons behind it a sufficiently significant portion of it seems to not to mind being under Russian control the same cannot be said for the rest of the country. The reason why Russia isn’t going to go much beyond Crimea is the same reason why Turkey never really tried to annex the Greek part of Cyprus it knew it cannot control it and it doesn’t want another Kurdish situation which this time would be also supported by another NATO member. There are a lot of reasons to why but none of them are really that complex. Russia’s movements in theater are the same since the early days of the Russian empire and are governed by geography the rest can be easily factored in by measuring environmental factors and Russia’s own capacity and capability. Syria as well isn’t that complicated, Russia didn’t want to lose an ally and their only port in the med and they as sure as hell didn’t want another NATO controlled zone in the region. Beyond that they also needed a “real” conflict to test the modernization of their military its the first time Russia has been employing combined arms with precision ground, naval and air based strikes in its operational history. Syria was a great excercise for them they got to test all their new toys on targets that the general public doesn’t really care about whilst Ukraine and previously Georgia had many more limitations due to geopolitical pressure.
myth_drannon 8y ago
After the coup in Ukraine and removal of pro-Russian puppet government and subsequent installment of pro-NATO puppet government there was indication that the new government will end the lease of Russian naval bases in Creamea(and possibly allow NATO bases)...

pharrington 8y ago

The Crimean peninsula specifically provides direct access to the Black Sea, and in turn humongous economic and military access to southeastern Europe and Turkey.

dogma1138 8y ago
Russia has direct access to the Black Sea regardless, Crimea provides them an existing port they don’t want to give up.
nyolfen 8y ago
it's also ~90% ethnically russian iirc, and russia fought a very costly war with a lot of nationalist sentiment attached to it to gain control of crimea in the 19th century. these aren't realist school-type rationalizations but they are important context.

dogma1138 8y ago

Crimea has a strategic value to Russia its their largest warm water naval base, the rest of Ukraine is nothing but a liability. They can hold Crimea because it has a large Russian ethnic population and like it or not regardless of the reasons behind it a sufficiently significant portion of it seems to not to mind being under Russian control the same cannot be said for the rest of the country. The reason why Russia isn’t going to go much beyond Crimea is the same reason why Turkey never really tried to annex the Greek part of Cyprus it knew it cannot control it and it doesn’t want another Kurdish situation which this time would be also supported by another NATO member. There are a lot of reasons to why but none of them are really that complex. Russia’s movements in theater are the same since the early days of the Russian empire and are governed by geography the rest can be easily factored in by measuring environmental factors and Russia’s own capacity and capability. Syria as well isn’t that complicated, Russia didn’t want to lose an ally and their only port in the med and they as sure as hell didn’t want another NATO controlled zone in the region. Beyond that they also needed a “real” conflict to test the modernization of their military its the first time Russia has been employing combined arms with precision ground, naval and air based strikes in its operational history. Syria was a great excercise for them they got to test all their new toys on targets that the general public doesn’t really care about whilst Ukraine and previously Georgia had many more limitations due to geopolitical pressure.

myth_drannon 8y ago

After the coup in Ukraine and removal of pro-Russian puppet government and subsequent installment of pro-NATO puppet government there was indication that the new government will end the lease of Russian naval bases in Creamea(and possibly allow NATO bases)...