@p-nullifidian Are YOU serious? How much do YOU know about the situation? Have you studied the history of this, the reasons why Russia sees the take-over of Ukraine as a threat to its existence?

I speak Russian, have spent a great deal of time studying their culture and history, and, I have friends who are Russian who can explain issues I have questions about . . . . how about you? Or are you just following the manner of Christians who learn what they want to learn, and avoid at all cost anything that might contradict what they consider to be "facts"?

This conflict has a much longer history than the time covered by recent press, for your information. It goes back more than ten years easily. During the Minsk Agreements, Russia was willing to yield to Ukraine the the Donbas, as long as they had a degree of autonomy, but what did the Ukrainians decide to do? They decided that they wanted to drive ALL Russian speaking folks OUT, via mortars, bombs, and attacks. In short, they squandered the opportunity, and thought they could get away with it. Oh, wait, this never happened, right?

Who was the REAL aggressor in Ukraine?
The US-brokered coup in Ukraine:.
Obama admitting his role in the US-supported coup in Ukraine, a war crime. (First video link below).
Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State, admits in the second video that the USA supported the Ukrainian coup with 5 billion dollars. Note the Chevron symbol in the background of the video. John McCain (Senator Lovewar himself) and Victoria Nuland were in Ukraine in December 2013 amid the mass anti-government protests. (The third video is of John McCain in Ukraine addressing protesters.) During the visit, McCain met with Ukrainian opposition leaders in the country’s capital of Kiev, voicing his support for the protests, adding that he saw Ukraine’s future with Europe.
Biden's youngest son, Hunter Biden was hired to the board of Burisma Holdings, Ukraine’s largest private gas producer.
The proxy Ukraine war is all about energy. The Eastern part of Ukraine is the major oil and gas producing region of Ukraine accounting for approximately 90 per cent of Ukrainian production and according to EIA (The American Energy Information Administration) may have 42 tcf (trillion cubic feet) of shale gas resources technically recoverable from 197 tcf of risked shale gas in place.
George Soros is heavily invested in Ukraine . . . . to the tune of about one billion dollars.
Obama admits the US-sponsored coup:

Just in case you forgot how much you were lied to . . .
[newsweek.com]

[ecowatch.com]
The results of the US interference in Syria
[cbsnews.com]

No pattern of behavior here at all, right?

I find it amazing that someone who is normally so well-informed can sound so naïve and uninformed in this matter, and, I have to wonder where in the hell is your memory?

@Archeus_Lore The “take over of Ukraine?” Are you asserting that the majority of Ukrainians do not have a right to be independent of Russian influence?

@p-nullifidian First and foremost, I am asserting that you don't understand the situation, and are responding like Christians do when something contradicts what they believe.

 If a majority is so important, why was the majority vote

in Crimea not respected by the US and NATO?

Additionally, one can easily flip that assertation and say, "Are you asserting that the majority of Ukrainians do not have a right to be independent of US influence?", because it surely is true that the US has asserted undue influence, far beyond what any country should accept. You seem to think that the USA is some kind of savior when in fact, it is a master of disaster, one only need look at were Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, and especially Iraq are now to see it.

How did that work out for all of these countries . . . are they all democracies now?

Straight from the CIA factbook, let's measure their "success" rate.

North Korea - dictatorship

China - communist party-led state

Guatemala - presidential republic

Indonesia - presidential republic

Congo - semi-presidential republic

Laos - communist state

Vietnam - communist state

Cambodia - parliamentary constitutional monarchy

Grenada - parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy; a Commonwealth realm

Lebanon - parliamentary republic

Libya - in transition

El Salvador - presidential republic

Nicaragua - presidential republic

Iran - theocratic republic

Panama - presidential republic

Iraq - federal parliamentary republic

Kuwait - constitutional monarchy (emirate)

Somalia - federal parliamentary republic

Bosnia - federal parliamentary republic

Sudan - presidential republic

Afghanistan - the United States does not recognize the Taliban government

Yugoslavia - no longer exists as a unified state.

Yemen — in transition

Iraq — federal parliamentary republic

Pakistan — federal parliamentary republic

Syria — presidential republic; highly authoritarian regime

If Russia fomented a coup in Mexico or Canada and installed their puppet ruler in the government, then started shipping massive amounts of weapons into Mexico or Canada, and they talked of joining a Russian / Chinese alliance, do you think you would support that too?

@Archeus_Lore I don’t care what Mexico or Canada want to do. They have every right to join alliances with whomever they wish. The right of self determination should be paramount.

But let’s not discuss a red herring when considering what is going on in Ukraine. And let us not focus on the United States as a source of moral authority or even indignation. Let us rather look at Russia’s neighbors like Poland, Finland, Georgia, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania and consider their reaction to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. What might we learn from them?

@p-nullifidian We could discuss that, but we would be taking about yesterday's USSR for the most part. Failing to include the role of the USA in any discussion is like leaving out many pieces of a puzzle. As for some of the countries you mention . . .

From Der Spiegel, November 26, 2009 :
NATO's Eastward Expansion: Did the West Break Its Promise to Moscow?
What the US secretary of state said on Feb. 9, 1990 in the magnificent St. Catherine's Hall at the Kremlin is beyond dispute. There would be, in Baker's words, "no extension of NATO's jurisdiction for forces of NATO one inch to the east," provided the Soviets agreed to the NATO membership of a unified Germany. Moscow would think about it, Gorbachev said, but added: "any extension of the zone of NATO is unacceptable."
[spiegel.de]

What we might learn is that the Russians have been very reserved, patient, polite, for a long time, until about a month or so ago. It is my own personal opinion that Putin dropped the ball, and should have reacted much sooner than he did. There has been case after case of Maria Zakharova or Sergei Laverov calling out the US for its own aggression, war crimes, and irresponsible behavior, yet Putin never acted on it. Several times I was asking Russian friends, what the hell was wrong with Putin, because he was literally kissing their asses (US government officials he was in contact with) and trying to bargain with them by being polite. That went on for a long time. Finally it seems to have changed.

In another view on the countries you mention, one could say the same kind of thing about many countries in South and Central America with regards to the USA. What would Venezuela have to say and what could be learn from that? Nicaragua? Panama?

It would be great to live in a world were the sovereignty of each nation is sacrosanct, and each nation respects all other nations . . . . . . but that is nowhere near, not even close to actual reality.

@Archeus_Lore “What we might learn is that the Russians have been very reserved, patient, polite, for a long time, until about a month or so ago.”

Reserved, patient, polite? In what reality do you exist? Putin has been scheming for decades to regain the glory of the former Soviet Union. As a dedicated KGB officer, Putin was inconsolable at the break up of the USSR, and has long dreamed of reclaiming its former territories. This man is a war criminal, not from a US centric viewpoint, but from an international tribunal point of reference.

And for goodness sake, please stop trying to deflect the questions about Russia’s neighbors’ comfort level by bringing up the neighbors of the United States. The people of the former Soviet republics have, by and large, made every effort to create their own paths, and the voices of the people of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as well as Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine must be heard.

@p-nullifidian "The people of the former Soviet republics have, by and large, made every effort to create their own paths, and the voices of the people of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as well as Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine must be heard." You are welcome to hear them all you want, and to attempt to deflect away when it comes to the nations of South and Central America whose voices have been silenced by the American steamroller all you want, (ever heard of Salvador Allende?) but it will not change the situation . . . . it is great that you have a wonderful sense of indignation and empathy for those who have been oppressed, but it will not change a thing.
As for Putin's so-called "scheming for decades to regain the glory of the former Soviet Union.", I don't see Putin invading Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and other countries invaded by the Bush, Obama, Clinton, etc. regimes, and making such an attempt to paint Putin in the same, or worse light just simply fails, and I see it as nothing more than similarity projection. Trying to remove the USA or NATO from the discussion is not only hypocritical, it also fails miserably . . . . those who think that they can pacify a lion with the bleat of a lamb are living in La La Land . . . . and believing that Russia should just yield to all the machinations of the USA to gain Eastern Europe as a fiefdom are fooling themselves . . . . and the end result could be a bit more than they bargained for.

@Archeus_Lore “You are welcome to hear them all you want…”

Thank you for granting me that privilege.

Do you ever listen to the neighbors of Russia and former Soviet republics that I mentioned? If so what do you hear? And why do you suppose that only Belarus, Putin‘s lapdog, voted in support of Moscow in the recent UN Resolution condemning the invasion of Ukraine? Where do you stand on the invasion and the conduct of the Russian military?

@p-nullifidian All of those questions have already been answered by what I have posted. Russia is doing what it needs to do to defend itself, and I need not repeat myself on what I said about the concept of sovereignty. Reality bites sometimes, but it is what it is, and words cannot change that.

@p-nullifidian

@Archeus_Lore “Russia is doing what it needs to do to defend itself…”

Such claims are offered to justify imperialism, whether coming from the east or the west.

@p-nullifidian I think you are well aware of the activity of the USA abroad, and the claim that it is all "defense" . . . . in fact, I would challenge you to list the number of countries invaded or attacked by Russia since World War Two, then list the number of countries invaded or attacked by the USA, and then tell me who is the greater threat . . . . but I know you won't . . . . because you seem think it is all in black and white, kind of like Robespierre, who eventually resorted to chopping heads to defend his form of government, once he got in a pinch. No doubt if someone invaded property, and threatened your life and livelihood, you would sit there and take it, right?

@Archeus_Lore I agree with you. Imperialism is just that, and whether it’s our invasion of Iraq, ostensibly (and lamely) justified by a claim of weapons of mass destruction, or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine justified by the presence of Neo-Nazis, neither are morally defensible.

But to completely disregard the wishes and desires of Russia’s neighbors, such as the Baltic states and the other nations I’ve mentioned, and assert that their hopes and concerns don’t really matter, and all that really matters are the needs of the Bear, is to essentially say that ‘might makes right.’

@p-nullifidian There is the world that should be, and the world that is, and as long as faulty humans control the world, might does indeed make right. Not that I like it one bit, but in my view, the USA is the biggest contributor to this situation with their blatant and prolific disregard for international laws, invasions and coups, with hardly any of them yielding a positive result, and many of them resulting in mass murder, destruction of the country's infrastructure, war crimes, cluster bombs, destruction of the environment and livability of the country, blowback in the form of what they deem "terrorism", when indeed, our own founding fathers would be considered "terrorists" under the US criteria, hijacking resources, bombing and attacking hospitals, supporting the terrorist Zionist movement, supporting Saudi Arabia, creating dictatorships instead of democracy, harboring war criminals, Nazis, and expecting the rest of the world to bow down to them . . . . . these assholes are a disaster waiting to happen in the form of nuclear war.

See above...