Quote (bogie160 @ 25 Mar 2023 01:18)
How would the American Revolution have gone if the French hadn't offered support? Perhaps well, perhaps not. It's hard to say what would have happened if Russia hadn't interfered. What I'd imagine is some small popular uprising that gets put down by military force. But Russia did get involved, and the people of Donetsk and Crimea were apparently glad for the support. The principal casualties between 2014-2022 on the Russian side were Ukrainian nationals. If that doesn't tell you that the Donbass isn't necessarily occupied, I don't know what does.
It's possible to accept that Russia is a bad faith actor with poor goals and at the same time accept that Crimea and the Donbass, or at least large portions of Donetsk and Luhansk, wanted to be a part of Russia if push came to shove. It's eminently believable, if not only because a majority speaks Russian and they see Russia as having a much higher standard of living.
For the few i know French assistance has been totally decisive because many americans were not motivated as much are you can imagine in doing the revolution & combats, and weren't that well organized and trained.
The revolt was mostly wanted by rich plantations owners... And first americans intellectuals/elite. They wanted the whole power for themselves, nothing new today with rich and/or political families in U.S.
Putin/Russia influence with "separatists" is totally decisive too: they have special force groups integrated into separatists, russia gave separatists weapons it does not export so it was easy to identify.
You know how motivated are russians regarding "revolutions" after decades of ussr and corruption... They have no hope in anything. Separatists are far left and far right recruits militias, gangs & mobs families.
I'm not convinced they are that much actively supported by the regular ethnic russian population. Especially those who are well informed.