Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) met Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, St. Petersburg, July 23, 2023 The problem with the war in Ukraine is that it has been all smoke and mirrors. The Russian objectives of “demilitarisation” and “de-Nazification” of Ukraine wore a surreal look. The western narrative that the war is between Russia and Ukraine, … Continue reading "Glimpses of an endgame in Ukraine"
The problem I have with all of these “realists” making all of these intricate geopolitical analyses about how the conflict is between Russia and NATO - which is true - is that in their attempts to show how smart they are they miss the most obvious which is that the Russians are dead serious about denazification and demilitarization. That is not a smoke screen or a pretext and never has been. The fact that the Donbass has been under attack by literal Nazis since 2014 and was facing a massive NATO trained Ukrainian army that was about to launch a full scale assault that would have at best resulted in a bloodbath if not outright ethnic cleansing was one of the main reasons why Russia chose to intervene when and how they did. No matter what happens between Russia and NATO going forward, even if NATO accepts to never admit Ukraine and to negotiate with Russia in good faith, Russia cannot and will not accept the Nazi regime in Kiev staying in power or maintaining an army that can be used to threaten Russia’s new oblasts in the future.
The problem I have with all of these “realists” making all of these intricate geopolitical analyses about how the conflict is between Russia and NATO - which is true - is that in their attempts to show how smart they are they miss the most obvious which is that the Russians are dead serious about denazification and demilitarization. That is not a smoke screen or a pretext and never has been. The fact that the Donbass has been under attack by literal Nazis since 2014 and was facing a massive NATO trained Ukrainian army that was about to launch a full scale assault that would have at best resulted in a bloodbath if not outright ethnic cleansing was one of the main reasons why Russia chose to intervene when and how they did. No matter what happens between Russia and NATO going forward, even if NATO accepts to never admit Ukraine and to negotiate with Russia in good faith, Russia cannot and will not accept the Nazi regime in Kiev staying in power or maintaining an army that can be used to threaten Russia’s new oblasts in the future.