And perhaps naive of us to assume that the war in Ukraine is a product only of this one man and his ideas and/or party. Unfortunately Russia seems unusually united in this "operation."
EDIT: don't usually complain about downvotes, but WTH people, what did I say that's controversial? Seems some people think this is somehow pro-Russian? It's not.
Sorry, I incorrectly read your statement as blaming "both sides" - I assume I might have been not the only one.
That said, leadership does matter. These kinds of ideas find support in Russian society when they are put front and center, but without someone to actively do that, people just grumble about "them not respecting us as they used to" etc.
At the same time, Putin does not represent the most radical manifestation of this ideology, either. Someone like e.g. Strelkov could truly go all in on "gathering the lands", as Russian historiography usually describes re-occupation.
This is my concern. I'm no expert on Russia, but I can see this from a distance, and it's scary. A way of talking about the world that sounds so 19th century, but seems to be making a comeback.
(FWIW I think American imperialism as we saw in Iraq is terrible as well, and I condemn both.)
I completely agree. Slava Ukraini!
> I completely agree. Slava Ukraini!
Do you see the contradiction? ;-)