Acquiring a strip of Black Sea coastland connecting the Donbas region to Crimea up to Odessa will increases the Russian Federations security 10-fold. By forcing the issue so that Ukraine will never join NATO a WW3 scenario is averted in any Russia-Ukraine conflict. The West
ignored Vladimir Putin, dismissed his concerns. There's a lesson to be learned here: NEVER IGNORE THE SECURITY CONCERNS OF YOUR ADVERSARY. ESPECIALLY A NUCLEAR ADVERSARY. The whole point of diplomacy is to avoid scenarios such as Russia invading Ukraine
- to borrow a Boltonian phrase - "in the name of self defense". In the same manner in which Bolton used the Carolina to argue his "legal case for striking North Korea first" you can argue that Putin has invaded Ukraine "in the name of self defense". And it's a valid argument.
Was the West expecting Putin to do nothing, to sit & watch as Ukraine joined NATO and NATO cruise missiles are parked on his border, whereafter any conflict w/ NATO (e.g.over the Donbas region) would trigger Article 5 & spark WW3? Putin basically said, "That ain't happening."
“The Kremlin said on Saturday that the West was behaving like a bandit by cutting economic relations over the conflict in Ukraine but that Russia was far too big to be isolated as the world was much larger than just the United States and Europe.” reuters.com/world/europe/k…
Putin’s right about one thing - that “the world was much larger than just the United States and Europe”. The West’s actions have pushed Russia into China’s embrace - politically, economically & militarily. One of the most a##-backwards positions I’ve ever heard of is the US
actually OPPOSING China’s Belt & Road Initiative. A 21st century Silk Road transportation super-freeway is EXACTLY WHAT THE PLANET NEEDS!! W/ Russia’s help China will link the BRI to European countries. Russian & Chinese cultures might integrate as we approach mid-century.
Wang Yi holds phone conversation with Blinken. “Stressing that China supports Russia and Ukraine to solve the issue through negotiation, Wang said that China's position on the Ukraine issue is based on the merits of the matter concerned.” news.cgtn.com/news/2022-03-0…
2/“The resolution on the Ukraine crisis should be in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, Wang said.
He said all countries' sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected and China welcomes negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to resolve
3/“ the crisis.”
“Taiwan region is an inseparable part of the Chinese territory, and the U.S. should stop interfering in China's internal affairs and take concrete actions to safeguard the overall interests of China-U.S. relations… At present, advancing and implementing the
“Prior to 1991, Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union and had Soviet nuclear weapons in its territory.”
Nuclear weapons and Ukraine en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_w…
2/"On December 1, 1991, Ukraine, the second most powerful republic in the Soviet Union (USSR), voted overwhelmingly for independence, which ended any realistic chance of the Soviet Union staying together even on a limited scale. More than 90% of the electorate expressed their
3/"support for Ukraine's declaration of independence, and they elected the chairman of the parliament, Leonid Kravchuk as the first president of the country. At the meetings in Brest, Belarus on December 8, and in Alma Ata on December 21, the leaders of Belarus, Russia, and
Zelensky would have WW3 happen to save Ukraine. This conflict is b/t Ukraine & Russia. Zelensky aspired to have Ukraine join NATO and now wants a No Fly Zone where NATO forces must shoot down Russian fighter jets flying overhead, which could trigger nuclear war. Plus he does not
actually know what Putin’s end game is. Saying “Europe will fall if Ukraine falls” is dangerous. Putin, using his words, is conducting a “special military operation”. An “educated guess” is he wants a Ukraine divided along the Dnieper River & a coastal land strip connecting
Donbas to Crimea. West Ukraine remains a democracy under Zelensky, East Ukraine elects a pro-Russian President & Odessa stays in WU. Europe doesn’t “fall” in this scenario. That’s what this “special military operation” is. Nothing more. Nothing less. Imo. That’s the most rational
NATO rejects Ukraine's demand for no-fly zones
“Allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said on Friday that they will increase support but will not grant Ukraine's request for the implementation of no-fly zones. "We are not part of this twitter.com/i/events/14832…
2/“conflict, and we have a responsibility to ensure it does not escalate and spread beyond Ukraine," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference.”
It’s a heavy responsibility but Jens Stoltenberg is right. The conflict is a direct result of the Minsk Conundrum
3/left unresolved, Ukrainian nationalism fighting pro-Russian separatists in Donbas & Russia’s repeated requests for the US & NATO to fully address its national security concerns going unanswered or crassly ignored. It is at the core a Russian-Ukraine conflict.
“The ways we use “us against them”. Any time you feel threatened by something, you want to feel superior, stronger, and better than what you are up against.”
Example: US foreign policy is “us (NATO & Allies) against Russia & China”. webmd.com/mental-health/….
cold war = “a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare”
The USA’s “us against them” mindset towards Russia & China naturally tends towards cold war.
Make no mistake: The US’s incapability or refusal to comprehend Russia’s security concerns (which Putin addressed in his 2007 Munich Speech) was the catalyst that led to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In a simplistic sense, if the Minsk Conundrum’s non-resolution ensured a military