My Kiev-trained Ukrainian immigrant doctor says that NATO and the CIA should have never got involved in the Ukraine. Everyone should have simply agreed on neutrality for the country. He said once the Maidan coup happened, he knew it was only a matter of time before a war happened, so he got his elderly mother and father out.
They should get together with your wife.
Here’s the truth on Ukraine, as far as I can tell
By Dan Truitt
First, and most importantly, virtually no one in the US has got this right, including conservative outlets and pundits. Putin’s a thug, but he’s an excellent politician and a strong leader. And he’s not crazy, as some seem to surmise. He is a cold, calculating, strategic thinker who has disciplined his mind and body for decades. He’s a Russia first guy. Think Donald Trump minus all that hot air, Big Macs, and add a willingness to off his enemies.
We promised Russia we would not expand NATO when the Soviet Union fell. We went back on that promise and incorporated almost the entire Eastern Bloc into NATO.
Then after 9/11, Bush II unilaterally canceled the ‘72 ABM treaty, which until then had frozen nuclear weapon development in the Soviet Union and the US, effectively ending the arms race. Bush’s rationale was that we needed to develop new nuclear weapon tech to defeat terrorism. Like we were going to nuke Osama Bin Laden.
Bush’s rationale for NATO expansion was also terrorism. So, Bush triggered a fresh arms race. Bush was a decent man, but the more time goes by, the more he looks like an absolute moron to me.
Ukraine belonged to Russia for centuries. They have almost identical cultures and languages. Kyiv used to be the capital of Russia. Putin’s war is a war of defense. Russia (rightly, in my view) feels threatened by NATO expansion. Russia is a mainly land-based, continental power that desires a buffer with the West. Ukraine serves that purpose perfectly.
The US triggered a coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014, overthrowing the democratically elected president who was Russia-friendly and installing a pro-western, pro-NATO leader. Putin has had his eye on Ukraine ever since but dared not do anything when Trump was in power because he feared and respected Trump.
So, Putin in the meantime brilliantly helped move along a green revolution in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, leaving Europe, with its wind farms and solar panels, hungry for more energy, which they bought from Russia in the form of natgas.
Trump’s right: Putin is a genius. Unfortunately, we seem to be in a historically rare period in which the leaders of 1.5 billion people, i.e., the West, are to a person either feckless, obtuse, senile, or some combination of the three.
Now that we have President Potted Plant in office, Putin has made his move. BTW, the story is that Russian annexed Crimea some years ago. Putin’s version is that the Crimeans had a plebiscite, and over 90% voted to leave Ukraine and join Russia. That alone should give you an idea of what a dysfunctional country Ukraine is.
Putin has no intention of “reconstituting the Soviet Union.” That’s a big fat lie. This war is the West’s fault, not Putin’s. At any time, we could have discussed these issues with him. Instead of seeking closer ties with Russia (as Trump was attempting — he even talked about disbanding NATO, since Russia is no longer a territorial threat to Europe), we constantly antagonize Russia with our NATO expansion.