Putin thinks Ukraine/NATO has been looking to destroy Russia for years.
Putin is making a big mistake by antagonizing President Trump.
NATO has, in fact, reneged on every word it has given him for years, so there's that.
“Putin thinks Ukraine/NATO has been looking to destroy Russia for years.”
Probably somewhat due to what get published on US GOVERNMENT websites, such as this one:
https://www.csce.gov/briefings/decolonizing-russia-a-moral-and-strategic-imperative/
> Putin thinks Ukraine/NATO has been looking to destroy Russia for years. <
I don’t know if NATO really has been trying to destroy Russia. But for sure, NATO had made moves to make Putin *think* that way.
In a way, it’s like a game of poker. What matters most is not what you have. What matters most is what your opponents *think* you have.
It’s a real pity NATO never considered that.
It’s also a real pity Putin decided to start a bloody war.
No good (or smart) guys here.
Actually, Putin holds to the theory pushed by Alexander Dugin that Russia is in a perpetual conflict with the Atlantic powers (the US and Britain). This idea has nothing to do with any recent "provocations" by NATO. Following this theory, he also believes that the mere existence of Ukraine is an invention of the west aimed at Russia. As for the NATO provocations, Ukraine has constantly been blocked from NATO membership, and the Europeans have allowed their militaries to atrophy to such an extent that even Trump has complained. They posed no threat to Russia.
He’s not wrong.
“Putin thinks Ukraine/NATO has been looking to destroy Russia for years.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
So, according to the logic you described if you lived in a neighborhood surrounded by other families, and you thought they didn’t like you, would you hire hitmen to kill them all and burn their houses to the ground just in case? All because your imagination convinced you they might become dangerous someday? That is what Putin did against Ukraine.