Last years if Obama the tension between Russia and US was building and building over Syria and other issues. There was a lot of talk of an event happen that could lead to a real war of Super powers.
Trump takes office and tensions between Russia and the United States subsidies..there is almost none.
Why didn't Russia posture or move on Ukraine then. Putin had 4 years where he could have likely done so with no threat of military intervention from the US.
Instead he waits until dems, who are itching for conflict with Russia are back in power.
He decides to make this play at a time he know there will be massive internal resistance particularly from the US.
Why?
Something seems really fishy about this and the timing.
Any guesses? Thoughs?
I know a few of you are intelligent enough to give thoughtful well thought out answers and I would be interested in hearing from you.
One of the nuanced things people need to understand about Russia/Ukraine is that Ukraine is only recently thought of as "separate" from Russia. Until recently, it was only ever referred to as The Ukraine, as in: the Ukrainian part of Russia.
Someone who's read a lot about Russian history could argue that, in many ways, Russia started in Ukraine. If you read Russian history, inevitably you'll read about "the kievin-rus", (Kiev is the capital of Ukraine). At one point, really early on, Kiev was the cultural seat of "the Russians" and, for politcal/geographical reasons, that eventually became Moscow.
So, that's why you have this, from the outside, seemingly odd independent streak from the Ukrainians in their attitude towards Moscow. But, it's almost more important to understand that, independent streak aside, the Ukrainians ARE Russians. So...it's sort of weird to think of Russia invading it's own people isn't it?
In fact, even though the media would have you believe that someone in "the west" is automatically a supporter of NATO...I'm not. I'd imagine a lot of "westerners" aren't. And I know for a fact that your average Russian ( meaning Ukrainians too) is no fan of NATO, so...I don't see Russia's actions as "invading Ukraine", I see it as them protecting fellow Russians.
So why "invade Ukraine" now? It was never about Russia "invading Ukraine", so I'd reframe your question and you'd probably answer it. Why now is because "we" have started to invade Ukraine again...probably with the standard NGO's just like last time. And now Russia is responding to that, as I'm sure many Ukrainians want them to.
we_kill_creativity 10 points 3.4 years ago
One of the nuanced things people need to understand about Russia/Ukraine is that Ukraine is only recently thought of as "separate" from Russia. Until recently, it was only ever referred to as The Ukraine, as in: the Ukrainian part of Russia.
Someone who's read a lot about Russian history could argue that, in many ways, Russia started in Ukraine. If you read Russian history, inevitably you'll read about "the kievin-rus", (Kiev is the capital of Ukraine). At one point, really early on, Kiev was the cultural seat of "the Russians" and, for politcal/geographical reasons, that eventually became Moscow.
So, that's why you have this, from the outside, seemingly odd independent streak from the Ukrainians in their attitude towards Moscow. But, it's almost more important to understand that, independent streak aside, the Ukrainians ARE Russians. So...it's sort of weird to think of Russia invading it's own people isn't it?
In fact, even though the media would have you believe that someone in "the west" is automatically a supporter of NATO...I'm not. I'd imagine a lot of "westerners" aren't. And I know for a fact that your average Russian ( meaning Ukrainians too) is no fan of NATO, so...I don't see Russia's actions as "invading Ukraine", I see it as them protecting fellow Russians.
So why "invade Ukraine" now? It was never about Russia "invading Ukraine", so I'd reframe your question and you'd probably answer it. Why now is because "we" have started to invade Ukraine again...probably with the standard NGO's just like last time. And now Russia is responding to that, as I'm sure many Ukrainians want them to.