I guess at the end of the day we have to choose sides. There is no doubt that the US has wanted to put constant pressure on Russia. We seem to have a certain amount of paranoia about that country. Can we say that the Russian invasion is justified? I think it depends on your perspective. Seeing all these people killed or displaced gives me pause. I hope we learn something from this. And hope it ends soon.
“Can we say that the Russian invasion is justified?”
I don’t think it’s justified at all but I do think it is easy to understand and it was easy to predict.
Nigel Farage was warning back in 2014 that our meddling in Ukraine and acting like we were going to bring them into NATO was going to provoke Russia. The late Stephen Cohen, who was a pretty decent Russian analyst, was saying the same thing. So were some American military officers. It wasn’t a matter of approving of Russia it was simply understanding that they would see it as a threat and that they would push back.
The 2014 Maidan “revolution” was a coup that overthrew the friendly to Russia Yanukovych government. Poroshenko replaced Yanukovych and one of his first acts was to request NATO membership. Zelenskyy repeated the request when he took office.
John McCain, western NGOs, and George Soros appear to have been stoking this in 2013, encouraging the Maidan coup. Poroshenko and Zelenskyy may well have sponsors in western governments who are more interested in pressuring Russia than in doing what is best for the average Ukrainian.