I suppose you can always pretend that Russia has no genuine concerns and no say in the region. I suspect that will lead to on going wars but what do I know. I’m not an “expert”. That being said, the only one who has avoided these confrontations with Russia (and come on much stronger for it) is the one who questioned the experts. They didn’t appreciate that though so...here we are.
“I suppose you can always pretend that Russia has no genuine concerns and no say in the region.”
Russia has genuine concerns and has peaceful means at its disposal to allay those concerns. Russia’s first and best way to reduce external threats is by not being a threat itself.
Second is to be a constructive partner with other countries in fostering growth, stability, and security.
I came up in the Cold War and I’ll tell you that I was endlessly heartened by the prospects for peace with Russia after the fall of the USSR. The US & Russia partnered to destroy millions of tons of Russian chemical and biological weapons, the US & Russia also partnered to reprocess excess nuclear weapons into reactor fuel.
I still applaud and appreciate Russia taking the lead role in exterminating the pirates in the Indian Ocean. Everyone else pussy footed around with the Somali and Indonesian pirates and Russia got in there and killed these scumbags dead. They even ran some great operations on land to kill Somali pirates.
This crap with Ukraine started precisely because Putin wants to rebuild the USSR. For twenty-five years he has denounced the sovereignty of Ukraine (and Belarus, too) insisting that Russia has some sort of God-given right to dominate these countries.
At the same time Putin smashed the progress that Russia was making as it transformed into a legitimate republic and instead made it into a dictatorship where he’s Fuehrer for Life.
Is it any wonder then that Ukraine is not in love with a Russia that’s ruled by an anti-Ukrainian dictator?
Now what if 25 years ago Ukraine and Russia had forged economic, cultural, and diplomatic ties based on mutual respect and trust? Do you think we’d be here today? I don’t.
The whole problem here is Putin.
And don’t think Putin’s buddy Lukashenko doesn’t feel the same way. He’s clearly leery of Russia’s intentions and that’s why he’s keeping Belarussian forces in reserve. Lukashenko wants to be able to fight off the Russians just in case they pivot from attacking Ukraine to conquering Belarus.
And given the current concentration of Russian forces in Belarus that’s not an irrational consideration.
Yeah, so Russia is entitled to the same concerns as any other country but only to the extent that they respect the concerns, security, and interests of other countries. It’s a two-way street here and that little prick in Moscow wants it his way and only his way.
Therefore his concerns are met with contempt and indifference. As they should be.