The US-Ukraine agreement was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Putin's July 12, 2021 article, On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians should have set off alarm bells. Putin put out the red lines and we chose to cross them. The war could have been avoided.
I believe Putin has been planning this since collapse of soviet union in 1991. Putin is even speaking of invading other nations after Ukraine.
Putin put out the red lines and we chose to cross them. The war could have been avoided.
There was never the unanimous consent required for admission, but some folks liked to poke the bear. Here is a Zelensky example. Some NATO officials also spoke of admitting Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1404512788966514689
@ZelenskyyUa
Ukraine government officialCommend @NATO partners' understanding of all the risks and challenges we face. NATO leaders confirmed that [Ukraine] will become a member of the Alliance & the #MAP is an integral part of the membership process. [Ukraine] deserves due appreciation of its role in ensuring Euro-Atlantic security
1:55 PM · Jun 14, 2021·Twitter Web App
Zelensky can be a bit reckless, as when he announced the visit of U.S. officials before they arrived in Kyiv.
With the US-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership Secretary of State Blinken made a show of poking the bear. When Putin eventually responded with a full scale invasion, there was little to no support to put boots on the ground to aid Ukraine. There is the politics of diplomacy. When that fails, there is the politics of coercion. War is when the troops go in to clean up a mess made by diplomats.
This is sort of the Minsk Accords failed. That was a ceasefire agreement. Russia is settling the issue that was supposed to have been settled in 2015.