Quote (IceMage @ Feb 24 2022 06:35pm)
The West saw itself as the winner because it was.
There's a presupposition in your post that Russia must be given a sphere of influence, free of Western involvement. My question is why? Nation states have chosen to align with the West, to join the EU and/or NATO. We didn't force them to make that choice. They made it because it was in their best interest to do so, because opening up their economies and becoming more democratic are good things.
If Russia wants nations to align with it, they should find a way to do so without coercion and force. But that's all they have, which is why it makes sense for their neighbors to join the EU and NATO.
You know that the USSR didn't intervene when protests took place in Eastern Germany at the time or don't you? It led to the fall of the so called Berlin wall which started the process. The USSR withdrew out of Eastern Germany on their own account while Western allies stayed in Germany and NATO expanded, taking in the countries that the USSR had left.
Instead of the West calling themselves the winners of the cold war they should have build a normal relationship with Russia and we wouldn't be having this Ukraine crisis today.
Stating that those are free countries that can do whatever the hell they want without taking into account the security concerns of a huge country like Russia that possesses thousands of nukes is plain dumb and it shows that you're incapable of seeing the conflict from both sides.