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This war just makes 0 sense to me. Are things so horrible in Russia they feel they need to invade and subjugate another country? I realize you could make the

This war just makes 0 sense to me. Are things so horrible in Russia they feel they need to invade and subjugate another country? I realize you could make the same argument for the US invasion of Afganistan, or Iraq, or many many other idiotic blunders the US political class has made to undermine the US's ability to weigh in on these sorts of situations. I suppose the difference is that Ukraine is a healthy liberal democracy. But if you ask the people of these countries, I don't know if they would agree there is a difference at all. Not to get hung up on the hypocrisy of the US position. I'm more asking what Russia has to gain from this. It felt like we had a healthy trade relationship, and the Russian economy was supporting an educated middle class. What was the point of smashing all of that into pieces and destroying your country's stock market and currency?

lnsru 5y ago
Lots of bad things can happen when one sits alone in bunker. On drugs, with some alcohol, health is declining. Whole world is threatening and isolating. One’s imaginary friends are laughing. It’s time to retaliate and show them all!
xxpor 5y ago
The only plausible explanation I've heard (other than Putin is just mentally ill), is that Putin has gotten high on his own supply of propaganda. He truly believes that Ukraine is being run by Nazis, and the US/West are building up to a Russian invasion. Supposedly during Covid, it's gotten a lot worse due to Putin's extreme isolation tactics. He's been truly surrounded solely by yes men over the past 2 years.
- davrosthedalek 5y ago
  It's a man who ordered the murder of several people via covert-but-clearly-attributable means. In his position, wouldn't you wonder if your tea is polonium-free? You have to get paranoid. The COVID isolation was too much -- just look at the size of that table. Or maybe he is terminally ill. Just by coincidence, I just read "Red War". Eerily similar story line.
localhost 5y ago
This YouTube video titled "Why Russia is invading Ukraine"? [1] is an excellent overview of the history that lead to this moment. tl;dr oil and security [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If61baWF4GE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If61baWF4GE
pingec 5y ago
I've found this article interesting https://www.salon.com/2022/02/26/the-ukraine-and-how-we-got-here-chronicle-of-a-foretold/ https://www.salon.com/2022/02/26/the-ukraine-and-how-we-got-...
- long_time_gone 5y ago
  It is interesting in the sense that it fails completely to mention the multiple countries Russia has invaded over the past 25 years. It treats NATO's actions as happening completely in a bubble, ignoring Putin's own provocations. It also assumes the countries that have joined NATO aren't deciding to join, but instead being consumed by NATO.
- helloworld11 5y ago
  Quite aside from all the injustices, lies and pushes for military action by the U.S. since the end of the Cold War, this article takes a blatantly one-sided view that essentially seems to state "well, you shouldn't have pushed Russia into a corner. The invasion is your fault". As another reply below says, no mention of Russia's own military aggression with neighbors under Putin's rule or of the fact that if NATO grew closer to the country's borders, it mostly did so with the full willingness of the countries that later joined. Having Russia close to them caused a choice and that choice (fully within their rights as countries) was to become closer with the NATO alliance and western Europe because they found it preferable to possible Russian domination. The writer describes war and military provocation as a lucrative business and insinuates that western greed motivated the expansion of NATO, but sidesteps that Russia's own military/political moves are often no less motivated by the same things where possible.
  - bllguo 5y ago
    sure it is one-sided, but at least it tries to give a plausible explanation rather than all the inflammatory nonsense about putin being a madman hellbent on conquering Europe. I find the general lack of interest in understanding the motivations of the opposition very disappointing people in this very thread are saying things like "his actions make no sense." Frankly if that's your contribution, maybe realize you're out of your depth? can we at least _try_ to learn from this so we can prevent future war?
rodgerd 5y ago
> This war just makes 0 sense to me. Killing one third of the population of Chechnya made zero sense. Murdering so many people in Grozny that it's still only a third of the population pre-war makes zero sense. Legalising domestic violence makes zero sense. Mass murder in Syria makes zero sense. Mass killing of gay Chechens makes zero sense. Moving to criminalise homosexuality makes zero sense. Much of what Putin has done has made zero sense for a very long time.

lnsru 5y ago

Lots of bad things can happen when one sits alone in bunker. On drugs, with some alcohol, health is declining. Whole world is threatening and isolating. One’s imaginary friends are laughing. It’s time to retaliate and show them all!

xxpor 5y ago

The only plausible explanation I've heard (other than Putin is just mentally ill), is that Putin has gotten high on his own supply of propaganda. He truly believes that Ukraine is being run by Nazis, and the US/West are building up to a Russian invasion. Supposedly during Covid, it's gotten a lot worse due to Putin's extreme isolation tactics. He's been truly surrounded solely by yes men over the past 2 years.

davrosthedalek 5y ago
It's a man who ordered the murder of several people via covert-but-clearly-attributable means. In his position, wouldn't you wonder if your tea is polonium-free? You have to get paranoid. The COVID isolation was too much -- just look at the size of that table. Or maybe he is terminally ill. Just by coincidence, I just read "Red War". Eerily similar story line.

localhost 5y ago

This YouTube video titled "Why Russia is invading Ukraine"? [1] is an excellent overview of the history that lead to this moment. tl;dr oil and security [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If61baWF4GE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If61baWF4GE

pingec 5y ago

I've found this article interesting https://www.salon.com/2022/02/26/the-ukraine-and-how-we-got-here-chronicle-of-a-foretold/ https://www.salon.com/2022/02/26/the-ukraine-and-how-we-got-...

long_time_gone 5y ago
It is interesting in the sense that it fails completely to mention the multiple countries Russia has invaded over the past 25 years. It treats NATO's actions as happening completely in a bubble, ignoring Putin's own provocations. It also assumes the countries that have joined NATO aren't deciding to join, but instead being consumed by NATO.
helloworld11 5y ago
Quite aside from all the injustices, lies and pushes for military action by the U.S. since the end of the Cold War, this article takes a blatantly one-sided view that essentially seems to state "well, you shouldn't have pushed Russia into a corner. The invasion is your fault". As another reply below says, no mention of Russia's own military aggression with neighbors under Putin's rule or of the fact that if NATO grew closer to the country's borders, it mostly did so with the full willingness of the countries that later joined. Having Russia close to them caused a choice and that choice (fully within their rights as countries) was to become closer with the NATO alliance and western Europe because they found it preferable to possible Russian domination. The writer describes war and military provocation as a lucrative business and insinuates that western greed motivated the expansion of NATO, but sidesteps that Russia's own military/political moves are often no less motivated by the same things where possible.
- bllguo 5y ago
  sure it is one-sided, but at least it tries to give a plausible explanation rather than all the inflammatory nonsense about putin being a madman hellbent on conquering Europe. I find the general lack of interest in understanding the motivations of the opposition very disappointing people in this very thread are saying things like "his actions make no sense." Frankly if that's your contribution, maybe realize you're out of your depth? can we at least _try_ to learn from this so we can prevent future war?

rodgerd 5y ago

> This war just makes 0 sense to me. Killing one third of the population of Chechnya made zero sense. Murdering so many people in Grozny that it's still only a third of the population pre-war makes zero sense. Legalising domestic violence makes zero sense. Mass murder in Syria makes zero sense. Mass killing of gay Chechens makes zero sense. Moving to criminalise homosexuality makes zero sense. Much of what Putin has done has made zero sense for a very long time.