Everyone complained about Russia pounding Chechnya, but no one did anything. Chechnya was not recognized as an independent state. Bosnia was, and the Serbian government was clearly supporting the the massacres there.
Kosovo was however a recognized part of Serbia, and its independence was not recognized until 2008. So you have a better argument regarding Kosovo.
“Kosovo was however a recognized part of Serbia, and its independence was not recognized until 2008. So you have a better argument regarding Kosovo.”
My initial point was a response to a comment regarding the point of NOT invading a sovereign country and not annexing the territory you want.
My point is that while that is a noble concept, it is clearly not reality and especially not the reality for many countries in the west — including us (the US).
Examples are Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan (US intrusion from Afghanistan), bay of pigs (Cuba), and last but not least Monroe Doctrine. Heck, I suspect there are some in Mexico who believe much of the western and southwestern US were “taken” from Mexico.
The bottom line is that maps have been redrawn by force on a fairly regular basis over the last few hundred years. It is just plain hypocrisy to say that Russia does not have a legitimate reason for invading Ukraine. They laid out their arguments very succinctly before this all began.
Ukraine and NATO could have easily negotiated a resolution before 2/24/22. NATO and the US DID NOT want a resolution. As many have pointed out this is a proxy war — between the West and Russia. Ukrainians are paying the price for this with their lives, not the US & NATO citizens. And further, Russia is certainly not going to give up the territory they have captured with their own blood at this point (last 60 days) without a fight to the death — which may happen (their deaths and ours).
This is a futile and senseless effort on the part of the west. The west is destroying their economies with the sanctions that do not work and moving us closer to WWIII. The time to have stopped all of this was with the expansion of NATO to Russia’s doorstep and continually poking the bear and not expecting blowback.
We, the west, will not win this. The end result will either be an all-out war or a settlement that leaves us in an equally and highly divided world and loss of our hegemony (militarily and economically).