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Well, officially they didn't just take it, they "guaranteed the local population's freedom", who then "chose" to "join the Russian federation". It's a joke, of

Well, officially they didn't just take it, they "guaranteed the local population's freedom", who then "chose" to "join the Russian federation". It's a joke, of course, but I don't think it's really that different from what e.g. Turkey (with the US' blessing) does in Syria, Israel does in Palestine etc. I don't think either of them are really about territorial expansion as much as they are about security concerns. Russia is -quite understandable- not too trusting with regards to promises of peace, so they won't let a very high-value strategic location like Crimea (which hosts their black sea fleet) fall under NATO control, and they want a buffer in a kind of DMZ between themselves and NATO, which they had in Ukraine before Ukraine's strong man fell out of favor and the pro-Western movement gained power. If they were after territorial expansion at any prices, they'd probably just pocket the Asian Ex-Soviet republics. Much larger gains including resources, not in Europe, ergo NATO does care much less. Similarly, China's posture in the South China Sea can be explained in the same way. Building artificial fortified islands isn't an aggressive stance, it's defensive. They remember very well that the British did to them and they understand that the US isn't a friendly power and has every reason to want to limit China's power, as they massively profit from being the world's only global super power.

thrwway34 6y ago
So, next they will invade Poland because so they want a very high-value strategic location and they want a buffer in a kind of DMZ between themselves and NATO? Or Baltic states? Where they would stop?
- ashtonkem 6y ago
  Based on Putin’s public statements, we can presume that he wants one of the following. 1) To rebuild the old USSR territory, he seems to consider ex soviet bloc countries to be wayward states, not independent countries. 2) To expand Russia so that the border it shares with NATO countries is narrower and anchored to a defensible barrier. To my (amateur) eyes, that would possibly be the Dnieper river, although other good choices might exist. 1 is largely ideological, 2 is based on the fact that Russia is facing both demographic collapse (particularly when you focus on ethnic Russians) and it has immense borders that are already very hard to garrison. Due to the layout of Europe, Putin could potentially drastically strengthen his western border with more territory, which might be imperative to do before the Russian population gets too small to garrison it’s current borders.

thrwway34 6y ago

So, next they will invade Poland because so they want a very high-value strategic location and they want a buffer in a kind of DMZ between themselves and NATO? Or Baltic states? Where they would stop?

ashtonkem 6y ago
Based on Putin’s public statements, we can presume that he wants one of the following. 1) To rebuild the old USSR territory, he seems to consider ex soviet bloc countries to be wayward states, not independent countries. 2) To expand Russia so that the border it shares with NATO countries is narrower and anchored to a defensible barrier. To my (amateur) eyes, that would possibly be the Dnieper river, although other good choices might exist. 1 is largely ideological, 2 is based on the fact that Russia is facing both demographic collapse (particularly when you focus on ethnic Russians) and it has immense borders that are already very hard to garrison. Due to the layout of Europe, Putin could potentially drastically strengthen his western border with more territory, which might be imperative to do before the Russian population gets too small to garrison it’s current borders.