Thread by @les_politiques

John Mearsheimer on why the West is principally responsible for the #Ukrainian crisis economist.com/by-invitation/…

"There is no question that Vladimir Putin started the war and is responsible for how it is being waged. But why he did so is another matter...The West, and especially America, is principally responsible for the crisis which began in Feb 2014." #Ukraine

"The trouble over #Ukraine actually started at #NATO’s Bucharest summit in April 2008, when George W. Bush’s administration pushed the alliance to announce that Ukraine and Georgia “will become members”."

"Russian leaders responded immediately with outrage, characterising this decision (to make #Ukraine a #NATO member) as an existential threat to #Russia and vowing to thwart it."

"America ignored Moscow’s red line, however, and pushed forward to make #Ukraine a Western bulwark on #Russia’s border."

"These efforts eventually sparked hostilities in Feb 2014, after an uprising (which was supported by America) caused #Ukraine’s pro-Russian president...to flee the country. In response, #Russia took Crimea from Ukraine and helped fuel a civil war...in the Donbas"

"The next major confrontation came in Dec 2021 and led directly to the current war. The main cause was that Ukraine was becoming a de facto member of #NATO... (after) the Trump admin decided to sell Kyiv “defensive weapons”. What counts as “defensive” is hardly clear-cut..."

"Other #NATO countries got in on the act, shipping weapons to #Ukraine, training its armed forces and allowing it to participate in joint air and naval exercises."

"In July 2021, #Ukraine and (the #US) co-hosted a major naval exercise in the Black Sea region involving navies from 32 countries. Op #SeaBreeze almost provoked Russia to fire at a British naval destroyer that deliberately entered what #Russia considers its territorial waters"

"The links between Ukraine and (the #US) continued growing under #Biden... the “us-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership”...signed in Nov by #Blinken & his Ukrainian counterpart...(aims) “for full integration (of #Ukraine) into European & Euro-Atlantic institutions”

"The document explicitly builds on “the commitments made to strengthen the #Ukraine-#US strategic partnership by Presidents #Zelensky and #Biden,” and also emphasises that the two countries will be guided by the “2008 Bucharest Summit Declaration.”"

"Unsurprisingly, Moscow found this evolving situation intolerable and began mobilising its army on #Ukraine’s border last spring to signal its resolve to Washington. But it had no effect, as the #Biden administration continued to move closer to Ukraine."

"This led #Russia to precipitate a full-blown diplomatic stand-off in December (2021). As Sergey #Lavrov, #Russia’s foreign minister, put it: 'We reached our boiling point.'"

"#Russia demanded a written guarantee that #Ukraine would never become a part of #NATO and that the alliance remove the military assets it had deployed in eastern Europe since 1997...subseq. negotiations failed, as #Blinken made clear:“There is no change. There will be no change”

"A month later Mr Putin launched an invasion of #Ukraine to eliminate the threat he saw from #NATO."

"This interpretation of events is at odds with the prevailing mantra in the West, which portrays #NATO expansion as irrelevant to the #Ukraine crisis, blaming instead Mr Putin’s expansionist goals."

"According to a recent #NATO document sent to Russian leaders, “NATO is a defensive Alliance and poses no threat to #Russia.” The available evidence contradicts these claims...the issue... is not what W leaders say NATO’s ... intentions are; it is how Moscow sees NATO’s actions"

"#Putin knows the costs of conquering & occupying large territory in eastern Europe...Russian policymakers...said hardly anything about conquering new territory...Rather, since the Bucharest summit, (they) repeatedly said they view #Ukraine joining #NATO as an existential threat"

"Tellingly, Western leaders rarely described Russia as a military threat before 2014...Putin’s seizure of Crimea...was 'an impulsive move' in response to the (#Maidan) coup. In fact, until then, #NATO expansion was aimed...not at containing a dangerous #Russia"

"Once the crisis started, however, American & European policymakers could not admit they had provoked it by trying to integrate #Ukraine into the West. They declared the real source of the problem was #Russia’s revanchism & its desire to dominate if not conquer Ukraine." #US #EU

"My story about the conflict’s causes should not be controversial...many prominent US foreign-policy experts have warned against #NATO expansion...at the time of the Bucharest summit, Robert Gates recognised that “trying to bring...#Ukraine into NATO was truly overreaching”

"at that (Bucharest) summit, both the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, were opposed to moving forward on #NATO membership for #Ukraine because they feared it would infuriate #Russia."

"we are in an extremely dangerous situation, and Western policy is exacerbating these risks. For #Russia’s leaders, what happens in #Ukraine has little to do with their imperial ambitions...it is about dealing with what they regard as a direct threat to Russia’s future" #NATO

"one should never underestimate how ruthless great powers can be when they believe they are in dire straits. America and its allies, however, are doubling down, hoping to inflict a humiliating defeat on Mr #Putin and to maybe even trigger his removal." #Russia #NATO

"They (#US and allies) are increasing aid to #Ukraine while using economic sanctions to inflict massive punishment on #Russia, a step that Putin now sees as “akin to a declaration of war”."

"America and its allies may be able to prevent a Russian victory in #Ukraine, but the country will be gravely damaged, if not dismembered." #NATO #Russia

"there is a serious threat of escalation beyond #Ukraine, not to mention the danger of nuclear war. If the West not only thwarts Moscow on Ukraine’s battlefields, but also does serious, lasting damage to #Russia’s economy, it is in effect pushing a great power to the brink."

"Mr #Putin might then turn to nuclear weapons."

"At this point it is impossible to know the terms on which this conflict will be settled. But, if we do not understand its deep cause, we will be unable to end it before #Ukraine is wrecked and #NATO ends up in a war with #Russia."

None of what the great scholar John Mearsheimer tells us in this piece (excerpts in thread above) is actually discussed or even mentioned in the mainstream media who are propagandizing for their respective govs around the clock... #Biden owns this war, not #Putin. #Ukraine #NATO