Russians are afraid to protest and they cannot believe that Ukrainians really opposed Yanukovich's unannounced turn of direction in regards with foreign politics back in Maidan's days. Ukrainians wanted to associate with the West not Russia and I think it is very naive or disingenuous to deny the role of the pro-West sentiment in Ukraine.
Don't forget Russian soldiers were told they will be awaited with flowers and cheers and the reality on the ground was Molotov cocktails and fierce resistance among the population. Of course, blame the USA and CIA and the "global government" for all of these.

RT?

try leaked calls of the US planning this:

It's not like the US denied it or lack extensive history in regime change and attempted regime change.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion

So what?
The idea of a democracy is that the majority vote wins.
Geographical differences are not unusual in voting, take Brexit as an example.
Maybe the EU should invade Scotland as it is clearly in favour of the EU? [this is irony].

There's a difference between what I wrote and what you seem to read.

No doubt that there is a significant pro-Western sentiment in UA (probably a lot more so after the invasion) - you can see also in the votes for EU/NATO - these again are somewhat split on East/West Russian-speaking/Ukrainian-speaking lines. I wonder if end UA ends up partitioned along these lines.

calm down! i was just adding a bit of factual information. sheesh.

No, there isn't. You repeatedly implied that everything that happens(ed) in UA is because of the USA interfering with Russia's business there as if the will of Ukrainians was neither here nor there.
My opinion is that if you (one) hold a very hierarchical view of the world you'll find everything that happens there perfectly justifiable. Which is precisely how Putin has tried to justify this invasion because nobody in their right mind can believe a country of such dimensions, military and nuclear power like Russia genuinely feels threatened by UA or other countries around.

Ukrainian coup was an oligarchical struggle within Ukrainian elites, and the United States just used the situation in their favor.

Russia used the situation in Ukraine and took Crimea. But that doesn’t mean that the coup was orchestrated by Russia despite the fact that Russia benefited far more from the coup than the US.
The rent for the Crimean port of Sevastopol cost Russia’s budget around $4 billion a year which was an immediate saving.

No doubt you can provide a source for your factual information about Ukraine's vote on joining NATO.

my view is that:

- Russia believs that UA is of geostategic importance to the security of Russia
- US wants to convert countries to liberal democracies and supports the desire of UA to turn west and integrate with the West
- The war is simply one result of the actions and responses of all the various players trying to achieve their conflicting objectives.

I don't care to blame or justify any side - it's pointless. The only thing is what can/should they do to achieve their goals and who/how can they compromise when goals are conflicting. The war will continue so long as one side believes it is better for them to continue.

Personally, I think that Russia made a huge mistake to launch a full scale invasion (maybe they thought they could pull off a lightning decapitation attack). What concerns me is if they are now backed into a corner and see Groznyfication as the next best outcome.

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It's in the IRI survey. Interestingly, from the November survey, the existing war/occupation was surprisingly low on the list of concerns:

"Which THREE of the following issues are the most important for you personally?"

49% Inflation
45% Increasing costs for heating, gas supplies, electricity
25% Corruption within the state bodies
21% Healthcare
20% Unemployment
15% Military conflict in Donbas
14% Government incompetence
11% Social protection for the poor
9% Political instability
9% Low industry production
7% Delay in salary/pension payments
6% Relations with Russia

You claimed it was a vote which turns out to be completely untrue, it was just some survey of doubtful accuracy.
Better to stick to the truth in future when you claim to be "factual ".
Also sheesh

You'd probably find a similar order of priorities in most countries.

In the U.K. at the time of the Northern Ireland troubles, I bet the North Ireland issue was pretty low down on most people's list of priorities.

Of course in Belfast, and in Donbas no doubt, it was/is probably pretty high if not at the top. but that's not how averages work.

Thank you for a much more nuanced interpretation.

Put it this way, I find very few reasons to disagree with you.

It seems balconies in Switzerland are as risky as park benches in the UK.

https://www.20min.ch/story/polizei-e...l-474451172619

russian's "against the war": ukrainians, just surrender and do what putin wants
ukrainian's "against the war": russians, get the f^&k out of Ukraine

see the difference?

There was a Polish charitable concert on Sunday - "Together with Ukraine"




This songs hits pretty hard. It was written directly after WW2 with hope for a new, peaceful future. Unfortunately the worlds are fitting Ukraine's situation perfectly:


"Before the day begins"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh0swdkIwFQ

From the world's four directions,
From the rowan roads,
Where the forest is burnt,
The wind is fatigued,
Night and front,
Where the unyielded crop,
where the blackened hawthorn,
The day begins

The sun will hug us to its hands
And look: the land heavy of blood,
Will once again bear us cereal field,
A golden dust

They'll embrace women under their roof
And look: they'll laugh through tears
Once again someone's going to play for us to dance
Maybe now

In a day, in two,
In a night, in three,
But not today

The breads will be baked in our ovens
And look: There where only smoke used to be,
With flower will the war's remnant be scarred over,
With the color of the roses
Our new children will be born
And look: they'll laugh that we
Once again recall this mean time,
The time of storms

In a day, in two,
In a night, in three,
But not today
In a night, in day
You'll see,
The dawn will come


Here's the original (ENG subtitles are there):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtkLqbQU1WA

Please stop inventing that there was any "for EU/NATO" voting in the Ukraine to suit your mindset.

Of course they did. None of this was a surprise. Senator Hawley and former Congresswoman Gabbard publicly begged the Biden administration in early Feb to disavow the 2008 NATO Bucharest declaration and take NATO membership off the table to prevent the war.

Biden's response was to have Psaki call Hawley a Russian traitor. He and his people have been set on this war for a long time. Not surprising considering many are disciples of the unlamented witch Albright, who thought millions of dead Iraqis were "worth it" for her imperialist goals. They undoubtedly think the dead Ukrainians are worth it too.

How many Russian speaking people of Ukraine who had to leave their destroyed homes in the east of Ukraine would vote to enter NATO now that they know that it is the only way to be protected from Russian invasion?

Yes and no. Yes they did but no the reasons, although perhaps strongly motivated by the defense industry, were broader. They have been playing this game since at least 2014 and how to escalate has always been the question they have asked - not whether.

https://twitter.com/tulsigabbard/sta...03305981972482

https://www.rand.org/content/dam/ran...ND_RB10014.pdf