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Comment by hackandthink | Hacker News Reader

Maybe I'm wrong. But I think John Mearsheimer got it right in 2014:

"Next, Putin put massive pressure on the new government in Kiev to discourage it from siding with the West against Moscow, making it clear that he would wreck Ukraine as a functioning state before he would allow it to become a Western stronghold on Russia’s doorstep."

This is happening now.

"Russia wants all of Ukraine, they want to subjugate them completely."

I don't think so. Russia annexed the territory it really wants. If Ukraine demilitarizes they would make a deal.

https://www.mearsheimer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Why-t...

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> I don't think so. Russia annexed the territory it really wants. If Ukraine demilitarizes they would make a deal.

How can you possibly make a lasting deal with a country that wipes their arse with international agreements when it’s no longer convenient for them?.

If you think a “deal” with Russia would do anything other then let it rearm itself and reinvade the rest of the country I have a bridge to sell you.

After all, Russia already promised to never invade Ukraine and to never never threaten the sovereignty of Ukraine in exchange for them giving up their nukes.

How well did that “deal” go for Ukraine?.

> I don't think so. Russia annexed the territory it really wants. If Ukraine demilitarizes they would make a deal.

Then you haven’t been listening to what the Russians have been openly saying on tv themselves.

The Russians are very open about how Ukraine is a fake state, how it is a mistake and how its cultural identity should be destroyed.

Maybe you are right and I am naive.

There's propaganda everywhere and it is hard to get the real picture.

I checked the Russia/Ukraine Peace negotiations of 2022 (Wikipedia). Russia seemed to be interested in striking a deal. (1)

And I agree: a deal makes no sense if you can't trust your adversary.

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Russia%E2%80%93Ukraine_pe...

-- Actually I'm not capable getting the official position of Russia towards negotiations. For example I can't parse this statement of Peskov:

https://tass.com/politics/1577411

We’ve been there - Ukraine was friendly to Russia until 2014, and we know what happened.

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