Please clarify: That's what your friends think, or that's what they and Putin think?
Regardless, it is high ignorance by Putin. The majority of Ukrainians do NOT want to follow the path of, say, Belarus. They want better than that. Post-1st-Russia-land-grab, maybe another third thought appeasement / leaning pro-Russia could still ease tensions, maybe even bring in economic aid from Russia. (Early Yushchenko style.) A small minority in the East wanted to go full bore Russian domination / control / Russian state. (Late Yushchenko on steroids.)
I can imagine Putin's ignorance. Domineering, powerful, arrogant people tend to get surrounded by yes men, and can fail to see a true picture even when obvious. I've experienced that in business organizations more than once.
I'd love to be the messenger to the talks (if they happen):
"I have a message from my President.
We will never surrender. (Churchill)
If I fall, another will rise. And then another. And yet another. (Fictional character.)
We demand full reparations, return of all occupied territories including Crimea and Donbas, and disarmament of Russia and Belarus."
Slight pause.
"The message from the Ukrainian people is rather less polite." Slight pause. "Good day."
Then walk out.
Hell, I volunteer to deliver the message. Seriously. I've had a pretty good life. What better way to exit, if so be it.
“I’ve provided some key snippets below.”
Full document (translated) here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rxulx40mbs69o3o/Offensive%20of%20Russia%20and%20the%20new%20world%20-%20RIA%20Novosti%2C%2026.02.2022.pdf?dl=0
(Pardon the awkward PDF formatting.)
Document seemed a planned declaration of purpose, to be published upon scheduled victory over Ukraine. Bureaucrats did as told (failure wasn’t an option, so that wasn’t considered), it was published, and then the “oops” was realized and duly retracted - not before being copied.
Paraphrased: “Mother Russia is the union of modern Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. Without union, there is no Russia. The West is fading, the East does its own thing, Russia must unite. There is but one Russia; we now defend it from those who would separate it.”
A buffer defense and the rebuilding of the USSR. Not exactly rocket science
Bttt
Russia wants to prevent Ukraine from developing oil and gas that it would use to export to Europe. This would give Ukraine a workable economy and allow it to integrate with the EU. But the main thing is that Europe would have an energy source independent of Russia, which has spent decades making Europe dependent on Russian gas. Petrochemical exports are said to be 35% of Russia’s GDP and fees provide 50% of its government budget. Supposedly there is producible oil/gas in the “breakaway” Donetsk PR that Russia will soon annex, and huge offshore reserves around Crimea. If all that is true, Putin’s machinations against Ukraine are a HUGE ROBBERY hidden behind a smokescreen of security concerns (there is a security dimension to it, but it’s not driving the bus). Maybe our government should mention this.
Red state should just call themselves deep state and quit their pretentions otherwise. They are anti-Trump too as you would expect from a website that pumps out deep state propaganda.
Putin uses Russian ethnonationalism as a rallying point.
Research “Alexander Dugin” and you will find either the source or the author of the essays himself. Dugin’s “mystical philosophy” is basically an ideology for reviving the Russian Empire. The “Russian World” concept advocates gathering all the ethnically “Russian” peoples into one unit, ruled by an authoritarian govt in Moscow. Another thread is “Eurasianism” (this gathers non-Russian former SSRs like Kazakhstan into a system dominated by... an authoritarian govt in Moscow...). Dugin supposedly “advises” Putin, who has indeed pushed an Eurasian Union concept as his signature program to counterbalance the EU (it’s long been a source of friction with Ukraine that doesn’t want to be in it).
Putin’s recent Hitlerian rants are informed by Dugin’s twisted version of history and ethnicity. Putin definitely is using Dugin’s ideology to justify his actions in Ukraine and his vituperations against NATO and the EU. I doubt that Putin is a true believer, but the hooey is a good smokescreen for his real motives.
Bellingcat is CIA, and a well known disinformation site. They loooove wars and regime change via the USA.
Don’t believe ANYTHING from Bellingcat. They pushed the Assad gassed his people” hoax. Yes, staged hoax. And 90% of America, and lots of the wolrd, fell for it.
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As far as the Ukrainians are concerned, and when running their own country their concerns matter more to them than our politics, their answers to both questions is "yes".
Anyone on the right who thinks Putin is our most dangerous enemy are sadly out of touch.
” an invasion that is mysteriously rationalized by an amazing number of people on the right who were apoplectic over Trudeau’s brutality with the Freedom Convoy, “
Not mysterious. The common thread is that people are coming to despise leaders in DC, Brussels, Ottawa, etc. We correctly blame them for most of the evil and hardship in the world at the moment.
Empowering every camel moslem camel jockey they can? Check.
Enriching China and trying to implement their system here? Check.
Finding every way possible to humiliate and chest bump Russia? Check.
We are beginning to enjoy or at least understand when anyone shoves back against our enlightened western tyrants.
Your FReepiversary is only six month away.