Along with NATO encroaching on its borders Russia got fed up with this crap as well and decided enough was enough.
Ukraine War: Biowarfare and the theft of billions
2022-08-06 09:40:00
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For years, Ukraine was recognized as one of the most, if not “the” most, corrupt nation in Europe. It held on to that reputation all the way up to the day Russia invaded, at which point media worldwide suddenly started rewriting history.
Whitewashing Ukraine’s Corruption and Authoritarianism
As noted by Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, in a sober and clear-eyed article, published in April 2022:1
“Statements from U.S. and other Western officials, as well as pervasive accounts in the news media, have created a stunningly misleading image of Ukraine. There has been a concerted effort to portray the country not only as a victim of brutal Russian aggression, but as a plucky and noble bulwark of freedom and democracy ...
The promoters of that narrative contend that the ongoing war is not just a quarrel between Russia and Ukraine over Kiev’s ambitions to join NATO and Moscow’s territorial claims in Crimea and the Donbas. No, they insist — the war is part of a global struggle between democracy and authoritarianism ...
The notion that Ukraine was such an appealing democratic model in Eastern Europe that the country’s mere existence terrified Putin may be a comforting myth to U.S. politicians and pundits, but it is a myth. Ukraine is far from being a democratic-capitalist model ...
The reality is murkier and troubling: Ukraine has long been one of the more corrupt countries in the international system ... Ukraine’s track record of protecting democracy and civil liberties is not much better than its performance on corruption. In Freedom House’s 2022 report,2 Ukraine is listed in the ‘partly free’ category, with a score of 61 out of a possible 100 ...
Even before the war erupted, there were ugly examples of authoritarianism in Ukraine’s political governance ... The neo-Nazi Azov Battalion was an integral part of President Petro Poroshenko’s military and security apparatus, and it has retained that role during Zelensky’s presidency ...
[O]ne can condemn Putin’s actions and even cheer on Ukraine’s military resistance without fostering a false image of Ukraine’s political system. The country is not a symbol of freedom and liberal democracy, and the war is not an existential struggle between democracy and authoritarianism. At best, Ukraine is a corrupt, quasi-democratic entity with troubling repressive policies.
Given that sobering reality, calls for Americans to ‘stand with Ukraine’ are misplaced. Preserving Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity most certainly are not worth the United States risking war with a nuclear-armed Russia.”
Russia, by every measure is more corrupt than Ukraine and more authoritarian. Stating that this somehow justifies a Russian invasion that has caused widespread misery, death and devastation is ridiculous.
Do you "condemn Putin's actions" and even "cheer on Ukraine's military resistance?"
Just askin' for a clear statement of your position.
Regards,