I write all of this to help others understand the issue from multiple perspectives, not to justify or defend anyone. Here’s what I’ve learned in the last week

I write all of this to help others understand the issue from multiple perspectives, not to justify or defend anyone. Here’s what I’ve learned in the last week or so. There is a good lecture on YouTube called Why Ukraine is the West’s Fault. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4 Mearsheimer, a foreign policy expert of 50+ years, belongs to the “realist” school. I find his viewpoint helpful as it’s very much Machiavellian and not focused on demonizing the Other. I’m not sure how accurate his analysis is, but it seems worth looking at. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mearsheimer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mearsheimer The gist is essentially this: - NATO, a Soviet-era military alliance, has continued to expand closer to Russia’s borders. Russia feels threatened by this. - Russia tried to join NATO in the early 2000s but was rebuffed. - Russia adamantly opposed including Ukraine and Georgia into NATO, but America didn’t care and pushed for it in 2008. - The US has largely driven this effort and has dragged the EU and Britain along for the ride. - The revolution/coup in 2014 (depending on which side you believe, I guess) removed more a neutral / pro-Russian government and put in a Western-focused one. This was followed by the separatism in the Donbas and Russia’s taking of Crimea. However, note that this lecture was before the recent escalation and Mearsheimer didn’t seem to think that Russia would actually launch a full-scale invasion. I would also note that he doesn't cover other important issues that are relevant to the conflict, namely: - The history of Ukraine in the last ±500 years, especially the Khmelnytsky Uprising, Cossacks, Ukrainian states in the aftermath of World War 1, the Holodomor famine in Ukraine, and how some Ukrainians helped the Nazis during WW2. In short, the history of Ukraine itself is very relevant to this conflict. There have always been competing groups in this region and it’s not a new phenomenon. - The disaster that was Russia in the 90s and (from Russia’s perspective) how the West basically took advantage of Russia instead of helping them. This is one reason why Putin came into power in the first place. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X7Ng75e5gQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X7Ng75e5gQ - Social changes in the Western world that could be called “wokeness” or “LGBT rights” and the West’s behavior of trying to spread these values. This is interpreted as being anti-traditional by Putin and increasingly China (see the recent bans on feminine men in Chinese media as an example.) Putin mentioned this in a recent speech. You could probably describe this as a reaction to Westernization.