It is tragic that countries such as Ukraine get swallowed up in geopolitical chess games. The United States may profess many things, but what they do best is
destabilize political situations as in the middle east, Libya and now Ukraine. For many years now Putin has been very civil in international relations. Things started to go wrong when he realized that the United States regarded Russia as an enemy and was building radar defenses in Poland and other Eastern European coutries, ostensibly to monitor Iranian airspace. He was somewhat suspicious about this; but when Ukraine was approached to join Nato and Russia rebuffed, he realized the strategy was to take out the naval station in Crimea, and surround Russia with missiles. So firstly, he grabbed the Crimea. This is reasonable given American subterfuge. Next the eastern regions--if Ukraine was polarizing, ethnic Russian minorities would have a problem as all minorities do. This was not the idea in breaking up the Soviet Union. So naturally he supports Russian ethnic minorites in Ukraine as the British support ethnic minorities in their countries and so forth.
Finally, his most important point was he didn't want missiles in the Baltic and Eastern European countries that could reach Moscow in 5 minutes. That seems like a very responsible position. But the United States is saying is that they have the right to position missles anywhere they wish; they have the right to overthrow countries they deem undemocratic, they have the right to interfere with political parties and so forth. It is clearly an imperialistic vision that Russian leadership will reject forever. Of course, Putin's economic policies were disastrous and he should really be looking for a successor that can bring a real representative government into fruition as well as better economic conditions--no invasionary force can do that.
In the meantime, you see the US could easily have agreed to his reasonable terms. But they would rather shed blood over terminology.
destabilize political situations as in the middle east, Libya and now Ukraine. For many years now Putin has been very civil in international relations. Things started to go wrong when he realized that the United States regarded Russia as an enemy and was building radar defenses in Poland and other Eastern European coutries, ostensibly to monitor Iranian airspace. He was somewhat suspicious about this; but when Ukraine was approached to join Nato and Russia rebuffed, he realized the strategy was to take out the naval station in Crimea, and surround Russia with missiles. So firstly, he grabbed the Crimea. This is reasonable given American subterfuge. Next the eastern regions--if Ukraine was polarizing, ethnic Russian minorities would have a problem as all minorities do. This was not the idea in breaking up the Soviet Union. So naturally he supports Russian ethnic minorites in Ukraine as the British support ethnic minorities in their countries and so forth.
Finally, his most important point was he didn't want missiles in the Baltic and Eastern European countries that could reach Moscow in 5 minutes. That seems like a very responsible position. But the United States is saying is that they have the right to position missles anywhere they wish; they have the right to overthrow countries they deem undemocratic, they have the right to interfere with political parties and so forth. It is clearly an imperialistic vision that Russian leadership will reject forever. Of course, Putin's economic policies were disastrous and he should really be looking for a successor that can bring a real representative government into fruition as well as better economic conditions--no invasionary force can do that.
In the meantime, you see the US could easily have agreed to his reasonable terms. But they would rather shed blood over terminology.
