Russia Flaring Around 4.34 Mcmd of Gas Normally Bound for Nord Stream 1

Honestly I don't know what to believe for real because I can see both sides just playing word games. It could either be Germany ("the west") trying to make Putin look extra bad - also see the wording of "oh baaad ecological disaster burning all that gas" while they intended to mainly just burn it as well in winter, though of course burning it for staying warm is morally less bad than just burning it off, if you ask me - while looking for other sources of Gas anyway. On the other hand it is absolutely believable that Putin is inventing reasons that seem reasonable to the casual observer to stick it to the west, who are arming Ukraine - which he obviously doesn't like. Whether or not one agrees with one side or the other on whether it's a "special military operation" or an "attack" is irrelevant for that I believe.

A bunch of European countries joined. They weren't forced to.

Of course the Russians feel threatened, but that doesn't justify anything. It's possible I too would have come to the conclusion and invaded Ukraine, if I were in their place, but it's still against the UN charter and it's still a war of aggression.

Countries don't have a right not to have huge alliances on their doorstep. That doesn't mean that they can allow them, so perhaps the war was inevitable, but the Russians don't have the power to take what they want anyway without losing more than they can afford to, so a necessity argument becomes dubious, and even a correct necessity argument wouldn't be a justification, because it would still be a war of aggression and against the UN charter.

You could also flip it around, and see it from a Ukrainian point of view, then there's a country that demands that they not join NATO, but imagine receiving such a demand? It goes beyond what is acceptable in the international order as we see it, a demand that another state subordinates itself.

I remember something someone in Sweden said, that if Russia were allowed to have their buffer state, Russia would force a large population than that which Russia itself has, to follow Russian policy in who they get to ally with. It's a comical thing. It's not quite true though, depending how you count, but even Ukraine alone is 40 million people, that alone is demanding to control another country with a population of 20% of Russia itself, so while it might not be right mathematically the point is still pretty sharp, I think. Imagine if Sweden demanded that Norway do as it wants, because it has smaller population.

The reality is that Estonia demanding a buffer between itself and Russia is no less legitimate than any demand of Russia to have a buffer between itself and NATO, which is to say, not legitimate at all. Peoples get to rule themselves and their historical lands, not anything else.