Everybody has seen the narrative that Russia attacked Ukraine because Putin is trying to reclaim territories of USSR and that if Ukraine falls then Russia will go after other countries in Europe.
However, if expansionism is the goal, then why isn’t Russia invading places like Kazakhstan, Georgia, or Uzbekistan. These are much weaker countries that don’t have NATO support. Kazakhstan in particular has a huge territory and plenty of natural resources. It would be far easier for Russia to invade a country like Kazakhstan than Ukraine, yet Russia seems to be able to coexist with these countries just fine.
Personally, I don’t see how this can be reconciled with the whole imperialism narrative the west is trying to push.
I’ve also heard people talking about how Russia invaded Ukraine for oil? Even though Russia has plenty of oil already…
It seems to me like westerners are working backwards to explain why the war happened. Like, they don’t know the history of the region or of NATO so they make stuff up to fill the gaps in their understanding.
And it just so happens that all they know about war comes from the US. So they think Russia is invading a country for resources because that’s what America would do. And they think Russia is attacking a country to expand its sphere of influence because that’s what America would do too.
Yeah, a lot of it comes down to projection.