Many predicted NATO expansion would lead to war. Those warnings were ignored | Hacker News Reader

Many predicted NATO expansion would lead to war. Those warnings were ignored

theguardian.com

15 pointsryanqian6 comments

Maybe they weren't ignored, maybe they heard that and thought, if someone is threatening war if you join a defensive alliance, then that's probably a flashing warning sign that you should join a defensive alliance.

edit: I just realised this is the same Putin apologist who has a whole list of articles blaming people other than Putin for this invasion.

https://www.cato.org/commentary/ukraines-accelerating-slide-...

> Ukraine’s Accelerating Slide into Authoritarianism

> Washington needs to let go of its long-held myth that Ukraine is a blossoming American-style democracy. In truth, it bears a much greater resemblance to the pseudo-democratic systems of Russia, Hungary, and Turkey.

Yes, he sounds like an unbiased source. Pretending to be anti-war when he's apparently just pro-Putin.

This is nonsense. The single cause of this war is Putin, not NATO or Ukrainian Nazis, Putin and it's about time we realised that NATO is required when you are located next to a country headed by a single despot with nothing to hold him in check.

Consider a different case ...

One can make a good case that Britain's guarantee to Poland in 1939 was done badly. Britain failed to convince Hitler that she was serious, and that invasion of Poland would lead to war.

We can agree that the 'blame' falls on Hitler. But one can also reflect on whether Britain's actions could have been better thought out, and maybe learn some lessons for the future.

In the case of Putin's Russia, NATO is dealing with a major nuclear power. Saying that Putin is at fault is fine. I very much dislike Putin. But we have to co-exist with Russia whether we like it or not. I am interested in reading some 'realpolitik' on this topic. In particular, I'd like to understand Putin's and Russia's motives, fears, ambitions, etc.

https://nitter.nl/kamilkazani/status/1498377757536968711 is probably what you want. And the super-TLDR is that Putin is worried either that soldiers based in eastern Ukraine could invade Russia, dash across the Caucasus to the Caspian Sea and cut Russia off from important blah blah blah, or that Russians could see that Ukrainians are like themselves but have a better state and a better life, and grow restless with the Russian state or both.

I always predicted that Putin will start the war. And I was right. Here you go.

Ukraine is not a NATO member, Guardian.

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