Head of Ukraine’s national foreign intelligence service – “We have studied…the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy. We are aware of Russia’s long-term plans…at least until 2030.”
Why are you even guessing? Every single representative of Russia including Putin gives long ass speeches about why this is happening. Also the US is hardcore plotting and funding terrorism against Russia. They have incidents every two weeks or so.
If it was only about conquest, there is countries like Kazachstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tschadjikistan that Russia could conquer easily and w.o. consequences from the West.
The key strategic goal for Russia is to prevent NATO standing on their homeland doorsteps.
For a good explanatiom see this talk by Prof. John Mearsheimer, who foresaw this war coming ten years ago already.
NATO has already been on Russia’s borders - the Baltics and Poland were already NATO members that bordered Russia.
I think the invasion of Ukraine was indeed a conquest for land. John McCain over 10 years ago predicted that Putin wanted to grab a “land bridge” between mainland Russia and Crimea:
My guess: it was Putin doubling down on his bet made in 2014, which in turn was triggerd by chance (protests over an EU accession treaty triggering a revolution in Ukraine) and opportunism.
Putin seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and his popularity ratings soared. He allowed the conflict to be frozen and undertook a campaign of military reforms, but Ukraine also undertook their own.
He subsequently isolated himself to such degree that he was surrounded by yes-men, and they told him Ukraine could be conquered with 200 000 men (and “was about to collapse anyway”, etc). He thought it would be over in days and told them to get it done.
Now this is just a dim take. We are fighting a war via a proxy (Ukraine) by offering the financial, logistical, and weapon support. Hence, a Proxy War.
What’s dim is refusing to recognise that this war was started by Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, then increased their invasion in 2022. Ukraine asked the West for military help so the West provided military help.
Maybe Ukraine should have been allowed to join NATO years ago when they asked, and then they might not have been invaded.
Indeed. That’s why I said maybe Ukraine should have been allowed to join NATO years ago. That might have prevented this invasion.
i never disputed who the primary aggressor was in this war
So you think Russia invaded, but then the West used this as an opportunity to harm Russia. Maybe the West wasn’t interested in harming Russia for the sake of harming Russia. Maybe the West just wanted Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia invaded and i think the west didn’t care until we were out of our other forever wars and we needed a new way to keep the military industrial complex afloat.
Would you have preferred to see the West provide nothing to Ukraine and instead just watch Ukraine get taken over by Russia? Perhaps that would have resulted in fewer deaths, but who knows. Russian forces probably would have still killed a lot of Ukrainians, and they would have subjugated Ukrainians, and probably they would have still committed rape and other acts.
So you think Russia waged this war just to stick it to the West? To me it looks like a war of conquest - Russia invaded so they could take land.
Why are you even guessing? Every single representative of Russia including Putin gives long ass speeches about why this is happening. Also the US is hardcore plotting and funding terrorism against Russia. They have incidents every two weeks or so.
The same government that has lied about so many things that I have lost count
Evidence? Do you think the US plotted and funded the Crocus City Hall attack for instance?
Also because Putin needed a war to shore up nationalist fervor and distract from his failures and corruption. A classic play that almost always works.
If it was only about conquest, there is countries like Kazachstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tschadjikistan that Russia could conquer easily and w.o. consequences from the West.
The key strategic goal for Russia is to prevent NATO standing on their homeland doorsteps.
For a good explanatiom see this talk by Prof. John Mearsheimer, who foresaw this war coming ten years ago already.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4&pp=ygULbWVhcnNoZWltZXI%3D
NATO has already been on Russia’s borders - the Baltics and Poland were already NATO members that bordered Russia.
I think the invasion of Ukraine was indeed a conquest for land. John McCain over 10 years ago predicted that Putin wanted to grab a “land bridge” between mainland Russia and Crimea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLAzeHnNgR8&t=58s
My guess: it was Putin doubling down on his bet made in 2014, which in turn was triggerd by chance (protests over an EU accession treaty triggering a revolution in Ukraine) and opportunism.
Putin seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and his popularity ratings soared. He allowed the conflict to be frozen and undertook a campaign of military reforms, but Ukraine also undertook their own.
He subsequently isolated himself to such degree that he was surrounded by yes-men, and they told him Ukraine could be conquered with 200 000 men (and “was about to collapse anyway”, etc). He thought it would be over in days and told them to get it done.
Now this is just a dim take. We are fighting a war via a proxy (Ukraine) by offering the financial, logistical, and weapon support. Hence, a Proxy War.
What’s dim is refusing to recognise that this war was started by Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, then increased their invasion in 2022. Ukraine asked the West for military help so the West provided military help.
Maybe Ukraine should have been allowed to join NATO years ago when they asked, and then they might not have been invaded.
Ukraine’s not a member of NATO and i never disputed who the primary aggressor was in this war.
Indeed. That’s why I said maybe Ukraine should have been allowed to join NATO years ago. That might have prevented this invasion.
So you think Russia invaded, but then the West used this as an opportunity to harm Russia. Maybe the West wasn’t interested in harming Russia for the sake of harming Russia. Maybe the West just wanted Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia invaded and i think the west didn’t care until we were out of our other forever wars and we needed a new way to keep the military industrial complex afloat.
Would you have preferred to see the West provide nothing to Ukraine and instead just watch Ukraine get taken over by Russia? Perhaps that would have resulted in fewer deaths, but who knows. Russian forces probably would have still killed a lot of Ukrainians, and they would have subjugated Ukrainians, and probably they would have still committed rape and other acts.
I’ve already stated my preferences.