61–70 of 265 posts
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They had an ample time to get their B1 in Estonian and get full citizenship since 1990. For most it's a choice.
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Who broke the Budapest memorandum? Russia was all alone in that. It's impossible to make an agreement with Russia, as a state actor or not, while being sure that Russia won't break it the second it is beneficial for them. Claiming the contrary is pure ideology.
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Not just being punchy: if you accuse pro-democracy movements of being US-backed coups, then that's a low bar for association.
The US even tries to foist democracy where it's a terribly ineffective idea, from a US interests standpoint, see efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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> They don't want to negotiate with anybody, they just want their stuff (back?) And to be clear here, "their stuff" is (in their eyes) everything that was once part of the Soviet Union. Most of it is currently out of reach, but not attacking Poland next is a tactical decision acknowledging EU/Nato firepower, it's not because "we don't see a reason to attack a neighbor".
Exactly, and that's why most of Putin's vitriol and propaganda is directed against NATO, because it's a real impediment to them taking it all back. It's also interesting to see how strongly the Baltic nations and Poland are pushing to support Ukraine, since they lived long enough under the Soviet heel and they definitely don't want to get back to that. I have no idea what's up with Hungary though.
I assume it's the same thing that's up with the German far right: they consider themselves in opposition to the EU / Berlin and the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
While that's also somewhat true for Poland, Poland likely calculates the risks differently based on their specific history with Russia. They don't want to become as progressive as Germany, but unlike a renewed Russian empire they don't see Western progressiveness as an existential threat to Polish independence.
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Well, a new case will start then - reparations for the billions in damage, lives lost and upheaval.
I'm not sure reparations have a good track record of brokering any sort of lasting peace and de-escalation, see the treaty of versaille for Germany post wwI...leading into wwII..
Any sort of peace acceptable to the Ukrainians is going to leave Russia with a lingering casus belli, which only the above (and NATO membership) is going to prevent escalating back into war.
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There is the mistaken understanding that this is all just an artefact of Putin. It's not. Most of the Russian elite agree with this war, since they (collectively, including before Putin) have been warning that they will not allow Ukraine to join NATO since the 1990s. This is all well documented. All the bluster about "denazification and demilitarization" and helping the DNR/LPR aside, this war is entirely about NATO.…
> this war is entirely about NATO No, this is almost not at all about NATO. This is about Ukraine drifting from Russian sphere of influence to the western sphere of influence. Russia would not allow Ukraine to join EU either, even if it promised to never enter NATO. In short, this is about making Ukraine another Belarus.
Given Russia's long history of bloody invasions, I don't think this is something Americans can at all relate to. The American Civil War is small potatoes compared to some of the things that Russians (and other continental countries) have been through.
It makes for a very paranoid country.
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And a former USSR country (although not willingly), and it shares a border with Russia, and it's the most remote NATO country. That said, if Russia does try anything, that will escalate the conflict and get NATO involved directly.
> a former USSR country (although not willingly) this is a weird construct, we were not willingly part of soviet union, not not willingly former
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Fun fact: You're leaving out some key facts. https://news.err.ee/1608873710/still-no-solutions-for-russia... Russia won't let them renounce their citizenship overseas, and going to Russia to do it will get you drafted.
The executive summary at https://raport.valisluureamet.ee/2023/en/executive-summary/ may be the more useful link
> Russia believes that time is on its side. To keep the war machine going, Russia is ready [missing a 'to' here] raise the stakes. Russia seems to believe it can “bomb” Ukraine to the negotiating table.
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They had an ample time to get their B1 in Estonian and get full citizenship since 1990. For most it's a choice.
Still, maybe Estonia should cook up a special solution now. I bet some residents who were on the fence before the recent aggression changed their minds now. I understand though it's a tricky real-politik situation. I'm lucky to not live in a country with a border to Russia.