“How, exactly? And I’m asking for a rational response that makes logical sense, not simply someone’s subjective view.”
As you know, this issue is a highly charged political issue. In order to have a rational understanding, you must dig down into the weeds yourself and clearly NOT get your information solely from the main stream, western media. Why? Because they are not independent in their reporting in any way. There is a very good reason they are called “fake news.”
I have spent time with my own research in the weeds and am 100% convinced that our government continues to lie to us about this (and many other issues) with full support of the media.
The root of this problem goes back to the US interfering in Ukraine in 2014. The deep state launched a regime change in that country via a coup. That coup is called the Maidan Revolution.
So, Russia looks around and sees NATO doubling in size over the last 20 or so years and expanding to his border, the US invading in country after country, interfering in sovereign nations for regime change, expansion into Ukraine and concluding there is a likelihood they will be next in the US and NATO crosshairs. In fact, Biden has stated publicly he wants regime change in Russia. All of this indicates a threat to Russia. Putin anticipated an existential threat to his country and took action. That’s the bottom line.
Rather than attempting to explain all of this, here are some excellent sources that will give you another view. This view is the opposite of what you hear from our political class and the western media.
Cato Institute On Maidan Revolution
https://www.cato.org/commentary/americas-ukraine-hypocrisy
Professor John Mearsheimer — Why is Ukraine the West’s Fault?
https://youtu.be/JrMiSQAGOS4?t=127
Social Media/You Tube Channels & Reports
The Duran
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheDuran
Alex Christoforou — Daily Posts & Comments
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6cF_2V1vNKx-nFdGd8cOcA
The Dive with Jackson Hinkle
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdKWfPLO_Emwqd8HnTOeJkw
The New Atlas — Former US Military Comments On Military Issues
Very Thorough Reporting With Reference Material
Excellent recent update: https://youtu.be/sAtdynekZNQ
YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVkSF37pPXkZbElFjBwUsEA
You can listen to the very shrill voices on FR and other sources or listen to both sides and come to your own conclusion. That’s the reality.
I am well aware of both sides of the argument about 2014, and don't really care about them either way. Under the terms of the Budapest Agreement signed by Russia, Russia had no right to intervene in the internal affairs of Ukraine period. It had no legal right to the Crimea nor to the Donbass period, regardless of the presence or preferences of any ethnic Russian minorities. Certainly, Russia itself has zero respect for the self-determination rights of any ethnic minorities within its borders.
Which goes right back to the original question I asked. What, specifically, was Russia afraid of that justified that invasion? Was Russia somehow worried that it would magically become a member of NATO itself despite its wishes?
“The root of this problem goes back to the US interfering in Ukraine in 2014. The deep state launched a regime change in that country via a coup. That coup is called the Maidan Revolution.”
Er... Your timeline is wrong, and the regime change was approved by Putin’s man in Ukraine hours before he absconded to Moscow with over s billion dollars that he’d looted.
The actual chain of events was this:
On 17th December 2013 Putin met with Yanukovych (the then Ukrainian president.)
Yanukovych had spent the previous ten months working on the preliminaries for an EU Free Trade Association. Ukraine are the time was flat broke and was in danger of defaulting on its payments to Russia for its fuel. Putin had a solution. Bin the EU deal and join Russia.
Even that proposal violated the Budapest Memorandum.
Yanukovych was from the Donbass, so was always quite pro-Russian. But even our Russian friends who escaped Eastern Ukraine say, he handed Ukraine’s sovereignty over to Moscow.
Yanukovych was expected to sign the EU paperwork, purely for better trade. He had a big majority in Parliament, across parties and even from Russian MPs, supporting that arrangement.
With absolutely no warning he decided not to sign it. No debate.
Then the MPs and media found out that he’d actually done a deal with Putin that effectively addressed the debt issue by giving the Kremlin a hand in the management of Ukraine’s finances.
To understand Euromaidan, you need to understand that this outraged just about every Ukrainian who wasn’t a pro Putin separatist.
Imagine Biden formally handing over the Treasury directly to Soros, on Soros’ orders, despite a written contract in the public domain sauing “I, Soros, will never try to buy or bribe an American President.”
If that happened in America, forget peaceful protests outside the Capitol. You’d have a massive revolt on your hands.
And so, Euromaidan was what Ukraine’s free people did when they realised Yanokovych had literally sold the country out.
Can anyone call the Jan 6th protests an insurrection, and expect to be taken seriously by any patriot? Course not. And that is why Euromaidan needs a far more balanced view.
There is one person who’d really love it if more people did delegitimise Euromaidan though: Putin. He just doesn’t like being told by free patriots that he doesn’t own them.