All Andrew/Russia/Putin's views on this depend on the idea that it's only the US and Russia that have legitimate interests here. The rest of Europe and Ukraine itself has a say in all this. They live next to a country with lots of nuclear bombs and can quite reasonably want to defend against this. There's also the possibility of Iran get…
All Andrew/Russia/Putin's views on this depend on the idea that it's only the US and Russia that have legitimate interests here. The rest of Europe and Ukraine itself has a say in all this. They live next to a country with lots of nuclear bombs and can quite reasonably want to defend against this. There's also the possibility of Iran getting nuclear weapons and they can quite reasonably want to defend against that. Ukraine is their neighbour too and it's quite reasonable for them to form whatever alliances they want with each other.
If Russia respects the borders as they've been since the USSR fell, and doesn't bother anyone, no one will bother Russia. In fact, other countries have bent over backwards to accommodate Russia - pipelines making them reliant on Ru gas is not something you build to a country you plan to attack. They could become a prosperous, sensible nation and get along with everyone.
The funny thing is, Western people generally like and feel warmly towards Russian people. At least before this debacle....
I think it's also worth noting that here that Western Europe as a bloc is massively bigger than Russia in terms of population, GDP and GDP per head and is far more technologically advanced. If the US weren't involved it would spend more on defence, particularly nuclear deterrence... Russia is struggling with Ukraine, how do you. think it would do against Poland? Let alone Germany, France, Italy and the UK.
Put simply, Russia is demanding to a more powerful neighbour that it be given special treatment because it has nuclear weapons and just might be insane enough to use them.
All Andrew/Russia/Putin's views on this depend on the idea that it's only the US and Russia that have legitimate interests here. The rest of Europe and Ukraine itself has a say in all this. They live next to a country with lots of nuclear bombs and can quite reasonably want to defend against this. There's also the possibility of Iran getting nuclear weapons and they can quite reasonably want to defend against that. Ukraine is their neighbour too and it's quite reasonable for them to form whatever alliances they want with each other.
If Russia respects the borders as they've been since the USSR fell, and doesn't bother anyone, no one will bother Russia. In fact, other countries have bent over backwards to accommodate Russia - pipelines making them reliant on Ru gas is not something you build to a country you plan to attack. They could become a prosperous, sensible nation and get along with everyone.
The funny thing is, Western people generally like and feel warmly towards Russian people. At least before this debacle....
I think it's also worth noting that here that Western Europe as a bloc is massively bigger than Russia in terms of population, GDP and GDP per head and is far more technologically advanced. If the US weren't involved it would spend more on defence, particularly nuclear deterrence... Russia is struggling with Ukraine, how do you. think it would do against Poland? Let alone Germany, France, Italy and the UK.
Put simply, Russia is demanding to a more powerful neighbour that it be given special treatment because it has nuclear weapons and just might be insane enough to use them.