• LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    43
    arrow-down
    76
    ·
    9 months ago

    Not a single paragraph about the actual demands of Russia. Which they have stated often enough. Basically they don’t want NATO right on their doorstep. This is what this whole war was about. But somehow this is never seriously discussed in western media.

    • Skua@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      62
      arrow-down
      22
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      If this war was about having NATO on their doorstep, why is it an invasion of a non-NATO country twenty years after the first neighbours of Russia joined NATO? It’s never seriously discussed because it’s either a lie or unfathomably stupid, and whichever of those two it is doesn’t much matter.

      Just for a second, imagine you’re a neutral country in eastern Europe. Russia has been fucking with Georgia and Moldova since the fall of the Soviet Union, and now it invades Ukraine for the second time within a decade. Russia has never touched a NATO country despite bordering several of them for literally decades. And then Russia acts all shocked when you say you want into NATO

      • freagle
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        22
        arrow-down
        11
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        Because Europe never invaded Russia through the border at Belarus. They always invade Russia through Ukraine. First Napoleon, then the Third Reich.

        Russia was appeasing the fascist West as they expanded their multinational nuclear military without democratic accountability into territories populated with leave-behind armies of fascists that they created. Ukraine was the obvious redline because it is the dominant strategic border, as demonstrated by all European and Russian military strategists in history.

        You’re confused about history because you don’t understand it.

      • LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        28
        arrow-down
        29
        ·
        9 months ago

        Yeah and Russia protested strongly every time. But Ukraine was their red line. Just because you didn’t read it in western media doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

        I don’t condone the invasion but it was predictable and a colossal “failure” of diplomacy if you look at it charitably. At worst it was a long term plan to force Russia into a conflict with the aid of western media to obscure the reason why this war was happening. Russia is acting just like the US would.

        • Skua@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          33
          arrow-down
          18
          ·
          9 months ago

          So invading Ukraine fixes what for Russia, exactly? The fastest way to make more of Russia’s neighbours join NATO is to show them that they’re safer in NATO. Like Finland.

          Ukrainians mostly weren’t interested in joining NATO until Russia took Crimea. Russia pushed Ukraine towards NATO.

          • LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            23
            arrow-down
            9
            ·
            9 months ago

            “Ukraine applied to integrate with a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) in 2008. Plans for NATO membership were shelved by Ukraine following the 2010 presidential election in which Viktor Yanukovych”. Then the Euromaiden protests happened. Then Crimea etc.

            It’s pretty safe to assume that both Russia and the US meddled in the respective election through NGOs and whatnot. My point is that these are geopolitical games which both sides play and which should be reported as such. Then we’d have a chance to protest for peace negotiations. But as is there is an overwhelming amount of pro-war sentiment.

            • Skua@kbin.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              24
              arrow-down
              11
              ·
              9 months ago

              Public support for joining NATO among polled Ukrainians was very clearly the minority up until Russia invaded.

              But as is there is an overwhelming amount of pro-war sentiment.

              There’s an overwhelming amount of anti-invasion sentiment. People that support arming Ukraine support Ukraine’s right to not have chunks carved out of it just because its neighbour has a bigger army.

            • Vilian@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              10
              ·
              9 months ago

              they couldn’t join NATO because of crimea, explain what they really want

        • Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          14
          arrow-down
          13
          ·
          9 months ago

          What are you talking about? There were no concrete plans for Ukraine to enter NATO prior to the invasion in 2014.

            • Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              6
              ·
              9 months ago

              So what? My point was that there were no concrete plans to expand to Ukraine when Putin took Crimea in 2014. If the problem is NATO expansion why invade a country where NATO is not expanding to?

              • freagle
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                9 months ago

                The intent to annex Ukraine as a forward operating base for NATO dates back to the fucking 90s under Clinton. Do you need to see a todo list before you are satisfied? Thank god you’re not responsible for national security of a nation of millions.

        • Pan_Ziemniak@midwest.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          18
          ·
          9 months ago

          I guess ignoring how Ukrainians ran the russian puppet heading their country out of the country just before the Crimean invasion of 2014 is convenient for your point.

          Appeasement does not work. It has never worked. It didnt work in Sudetenland, it didnt work in Crimea, and it would never have worked with Donbas, either.

            • Amerikan Pharaoh
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              8
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              9 months ago

              CW: “Foxes and Wolves” quote

              “The white conservatives aren’t friends of the Negro either, but they at least don’t try to hide it. They are like wolves; they show their teeth in a snarl that keeps the Negro always aware of where he stands with them. But the white liberals are foxes, who also show their teeth to the Negro but pretend that they are smiling. The white liberals are more dangerous than the conservatives; they lure the Negro, and as the Negro runs from the growling wolf, he flees into the open jaws of the “smiling” fox.” – Malcolm X

              Republicans and Democrats descend from the same genetic ancestors: white supremacy and Amerikan exceptionalism. Still a dog, just built different between the two.

          • CannotSleep420
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            13
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            9 months ago

            I guess ignoring how Ukrainians ran the russian puppet heading their country out of the country just before the Crimean invasion of 2014 is convenient for your point.

            Being willing to trade with Russia at all makes you their puppet apparently.

          • Amerikan Pharaoh
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            12
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            9 months ago

            You mean when the occupiers of Turtle Island couped Poroshenko Yanukovych and installed a regime full of Banderite proto-nazis on the take from Anglo settlers? Yeah, I remember that; my next door neighbor got his old home ransacked, raided, and eventually flattened by the fighting that came to his city. He barely made it out alive; and STILL has to look up and down the street before he opens his door so we can talk-- just so he can make sure someone’s not trundling down the drive to drag him back. I remember that well.

              • LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                12
                arrow-down
                3
                ·
                9 months ago

                “appeasement”… “sudetenland” lol who do you think you’re fooling.

                • Pan_Ziemniak@midwest.social
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  arrow-down
                  10
                  ·
                  9 months ago

                  Oh no, i compared facsists to other fascists. But keep going with the false equivalences, thats certainly the way to convince the voters thats working for u.

                  In case u other readers havent been paying attention, russia is still threatening Poland, Lithuania, and Finland just as they have been for their whole history.

                  • LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    11
                    arrow-down
                    2
                    ·
                    9 months ago

                    My hole point is that Russia is portrayed as a demonic, irrational Hitler that can’t be reasoned with. So all their demands are irrelevant and negotiations useless. And nato and the US empire is just a well meaning benevolent force that nobody has any reason to oppose. So we have to keep the war going!

                    That is the propaganda. And so far all the replies have basically confirmed this.

          • freagle
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            9 months ago

            Appeasement does not work. It has never worked. It didnt work in Sudetenland

            And it didn’t work for Russia when they appeased the USA as they marched NATO all across Eastern Europe and installed nuclear capabilities aimed at Russia. Russia has appeased the USA for too long. They decided to act in Ukraine finally because Ukraine is THE strategic red line. Both Napoleon and The Third Reich invaded Russia through Ukraine because it is strategically the best path. The USA took up nearly every other borderland with Russia except Ukraine, saving it for last, and Russia appeased and appeased. It stopped at Ukraine.

    • FiskFisk33@startrek.website
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      26
      arrow-down
      14
      ·
      9 months ago

      Then turning Ukraine into Russian territory is a bit counter productive no? That would literally bring NATO to Russias doorstep.

    • Z3k3@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      9 months ago

      While that may or may not be the case this does not permit interference of sovereign state from acting in its own best in own best interest.

      • LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        9 months ago

        Agreed - but it does make it somewhat of an “own goal”. The invasion was predictable. Western PR says it was totally surprising but it wasn’t.

        • freagle
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          9 months ago

          What’s wild is that Western PR was actually saying that Russia was going to invade and Ukraine kept saying that they weren’t.

    • FatLegTed@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      arrow-down
      18
      ·
      9 months ago

      But NATO already is on their doorstep. Norway, Estonia, Poland etc. Even USA is only a few mils away across the Bering Strait.

      This is not about Ukraine joining NATO, that’s a convenience.

    • umbrella@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      17
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      which is a perfectly reasonable demand.

      but since the US wants blood…

      • Skua@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        19
        arrow-down
        11
        ·
        9 months ago

        No, demanding your neighbours all remain weak enough for you to continue bullying is not perfectly reasonable at all

        • umbrella@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          14
          arrow-down
          14
          ·
          9 months ago

          as opposed to having your biggest aggressor right in your doorstep?

          • Skua@kbin.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            17
            arrow-down
            12
            ·
            9 months ago

            All of the countries near Russia that joined NATO did so because they already have their biggest aggressor on their doorsteps.

              • Skua@kbin.social
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                14
                arrow-down
                9
                ·
                9 months ago

                If buying stuff from the other side is your yardstick, NATO clearly wasn’t a threat to Russia. Germany, Italy, France, and America were all some of Russia’s largest import sources in 2021.

                • umbrella@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  11
                  arrow-down
                  14
                  ·
                  9 months ago

                  which all sounds really dumb if russia was that big of an aggressor in the first place. either that or you know, they werent.

                  • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    arrow-down
                    3
                    ·
                    9 months ago

                    Oh cool, then neither is aggressor. Since they were both doing business with each other. Because apparently that’s how it works.

                • umbrella@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  9 months ago

                  so save a couple of things, almost exactly as they have been before motherfuckers started provoking war with russia

    • Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      9 months ago

      My friend it was never about NATO. There is no prospective out there based in fact where NATO has anything to do with it.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      9 months ago

      Basically they don’t want NATO right on their doorstep.

      Have you looked at a map of Europe lately?

    • randy@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      arrow-down
      24
      ·
      9 months ago

      Basically they don’t want NATO right on their doorstep.

      NATO is not the anti-Russia club. They’re a defensive pact. Why would you be concerned about your neighbours agreeing to defend each other? Like a neighbourhood watch, perhaps. Maybe you’d be upset if you’re planning to do the thing they’re defending against. Which is all the more reason for those neighbours to band together.

        • randy@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          13
          ·
          9 months ago

          That’s how Putin claims to perceive it, but that’s also what he would claim if his actual goal was to control his neighbours by force. And don’t forget Finland and Sweden responded to the invasion of Ukraine by joining NATO. If Russia perceived NATO as a threat, then Finland joining would make them more likely to be attacked. Clearly Finland feels NATO is making them safer or they wouldn’t have joined. And since then, Russia has moved tons of their military away from NATO borders and into Ukraine.

          In other words, I trust the actions of Finland and Russia more than I trust the words of Russia.

      • Amerikan Pharaoh
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        Yugoslavia would levy a disagreement about NATO’s status as a “defensive pact”; as would every Nazi who’s historically headed that “dEfEnSiVe AlLiAnCe”. They’re just bodies on tap for the Five-Eyed Empire. As offensive as they’re needed, at that.

      • CannotSleep420
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        9 months ago

        Unironically believing NATO is a defensive pact.

        get a load of this

        • randy@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          6
          ·
          9 months ago

          You know, you have a point. But I’ll note both instances had the UN request NATO intervention. Russia could have blocked either with their veto in the UN Security Council, but they didn’t.

          • OurToothbrush@lemmy.mlM
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            9 months ago

            I mean, no, the UN security council doesn’t have any power, they would have still gone through with the invasion.

            • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              6
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              9 months ago

              Not to mention the actual voting on intervention was in the start of 1992, when the comprador Russian government (the same one btw that got promised by USA they won’t add former socialist countries to NATO) was choking on USA boot.

    • LittleBorat2@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      15
      ·
      9 months ago

      I don’t want people like you in my comments but no one acknowledges that. So weird.

    • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      9 months ago

      Because it’s invaders demanding unprotected targets. It’s the dumbest propaganda imaginable. What is it doing in your mouth?

      “We want the Stop Russia Invading Shit Alliance to be further away from Russia! To prove we’re serious, Russia will invade countries that aren’t yet part of the alliance.”

      • LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        I wonder if you guys realize that Russia is achieving it’s war objectives? West-Ukraine won’t join NATO anytime soon, because they know what will happen. This war also has seriously long term destabilizing effects on Europe - at least on their democracies (refugees, tax burden / austerity).

        It’s ludicrous to say that Russia’s protests about NATO are bogus - because they protested about it for decades, ever since the US broke their agreement with Gorbachev to not expand NATO eastwards. It’s just a historical fact that you want to alter in order to justify not negotiating. I’m used to these “alternative facts” level of brainwashing from trumpists but not from liberals.

        • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          9 months ago

          More countries joined NATO, Russia’s slaughtering a generation of Russians, their money is gone, their equipment is gone, and their big scary mercenary force openly tried to overthrow the government. Wow. What victorious progress.

          At this rate NATO’s gonna disband because there won’t be a Russia.

    • theherk@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      13
      ·
      9 months ago

      Their demands are irrelevant while on the soil of a sovereign nation without authorization or sufficient leverage. Both of which are not only lacking but severely so.

    • CultHero@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      18
      ·
      9 months ago

      This whole shit storm has been about one thing. Putins legacy as the czar that reformed the USSR. That’s it. He wants to lift the iron curtain high once more. It’s all dick stroking by a madman.