“ Pushing NATO right up to the Russian border is a stupid and unnecessary provocation of the Russians, no matter who their leader is.”
And yet, Putin, if he succeeds in conquering Ukraine, will move the border of Russia right up to NATO borders. Same if he takes over White Russia.
Poking the bear is stupid and dangerous.
There are no excuses for stupid and dangerous.
In order to get the premiership after Stalin’s death, Khrushchev gave the ethnically Russian section of Ukraine away.
It’s analogous to an American President giving the Island of Manhattan to New Jersey in order to get their support to win the presidency. It was all fine, until the USSR fell apart. That’s when it became an issue.
While it’s true that the Russians would not have invaded Ukraine if Trump was president, it’s an issue that would have happened at some point anyway.
The part of Ukraine that Putin wants used to be part of Russia. The population speaks Russian, and wants to return to Russian citizenship.
This is the part of the region’s history that nobody is reporting.
And yes, it is unbelievably stupid to move NATO borders right up to the Russian border.
China moved on South Korea in 1950 to get the US away from China’s border and 50 thousand Americans died.
China moved into Viet Nam to get the US away from China’s border in 1965. Another 58 thousand Americans died.
China told Biden to get American troops out of Afghanistan, and 13 Americans died.
So yes, it is incredibly stupid to provoke an adversary unnecessarily.
The world just barely missed a world war in 1962 over this exact issue.
And now we’re stumbling back into it because a demented fool wants to throw his weight around and claim it as part of his legacy?
Stupid is as stupid does.
” will move the border of Russia right up to NATO borders. Same if he takes over White Russia.”
Ahem. Russia has always had a border with NATO.