So the US was lobbying for the action that would advance US interests? No way!
You see the exact same thing in Saudi: short term small gains and long term enormous costs. And the inverse with (say) India: refusing to bow to all US demands means the world's largest democracy is basically rejected in favour of its theocratic military junta neighbour...
I actually think this is the last remnants of secrecy in government: in few other areas can the executive secretly do dumb shit. But they can here. So they do. But that does not make it any less dumb...
Back in 1962, the Soviets put missiles in Cuba, infringing the US sphere of influence. The US retaliated with a blockade.
Moving NATO to the doorstep of Russia is analogous. Not surprisingly, the Russians retaliated with force.
Of course Putin is a corrupt thug, but you don't go poking a bear with a stick and then complain when he slashes you with his claws.
Russia is not the USSR, Ukraine is not part of an aligned block (however forced) but a separate country.
Stop making the equivalent excuse of “she was wearing skimpy clothes and provoking me”, a rapist is a rapist and a war criminal is a war criminal.
In a “well, I understand, Jeff actually owned my ass” and I’m not an autonomous person but his property because my dad was his dads indentured servant once” kind of way understandable. Oh and you gave him your shotgun 20 years back because he promised security guarantees but since then already invaded and annexed your patio and constantly kept making threats.
The same way of understanding that people extended for Hitlers need for Lebensraum. He was literally forced to invade Poland, right?
It’s understandable to fascists rejecting the rule of law and craving rule of the strongest because they think they’d win in that scenario.
if you can see this, why would you not see the american actions as "understandable"
https://www.businessinsider.com/wikileaks-russia-cable-2014-...
Not to justify the invasion, but the concerns were known back in 2008.
Why do these blatant Russian lies keep getting posted here?
Putin and many other Russian warmongers consider Ukraine to be a "fake nation", a "historical mistake", that should not exist. The bullshit about "NATO neo-Nazis" is just propaganda aimed at a foreign audience.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/28/zelenskyy-blackrock-ceo-fink...