Quote (Malopox @ May 16 2023 05:58pm)
Being on a path to democracy and nonaligned is fine. Look at eg Kazakhstan which tries to juggle interests of China, Russia and US very carefully. Or eg Singapore which balances interests of its Muslim neighbours with those of US and China.
The article I posted goes quite well into concerns Russians had over the past decades that NATO “defensive” preemptive invasions in violation of international law have created a real threat that this will happen to Russia one day once US figures out how not to get nuked in return.
Finland / Sweden joining NATO is a setback (and to be honest a blunder on their part as they were never on the radar), but it is not seen as a catastrophe comparable to losing Crimea permanently.
Kazakhstan is hardly a shining beacon of democracy and completely under Russias thumb.
Georgia, Transnistria, Ukraine before maidan, Kazakhstan, Checnya, Dagestan, Armenia.
So Russia is entitled to install and prop up friendly governments. And that's fine. But UkrIne choosing itself to join NATO is a red line, and that justifies invading Ukraine?
It is skewed from reality to believe the US is subverting Russia into a war in Ukraine and Russia is completely not culpable for its own actions.