They like war and dont defend their neighbors. Why should they, Unidet states will do their dirty work.
Hi Mike,
I have a personal opinion about this issue... I hope I am not offending anyone here.
First, after the collapse of the USSR, many European countries have established trade-relationships with Russia, even though they may not like the domestic politics of Russia.
The Ukraine, a former member of the USSR, is a torn country... one side identifying as "Europeans", the other side identifying as russian people. The Ukraine has been trying for a few years to join the EU, as well as NATO. Neither the EU, nor NATO felt they could accept this country into their organizations.
Why? because the Ukraine has been in violent political turmoil for the last decade (or even longer), with war-crimes being committed.. Our media don’t talk much about these issues.
It’s neither NATO’s nor the EU’s responsibility to defend the Ukraine. Yet, Zelensky has been trying very hard to get them involved, risking a nuclear WW3.
From the very beginning, Putin has stated that he does not want to occupy the Ukraine… he was mostly interested in Ukraine’s “demilitarization” For the last few years, the US has been pumping the Ukraine full of money and modern weapons, with missiles pointing directly at Russia.
Pres. JFK didnn’t allow the USSR to place missiles into Cuba….Somehow, this situation here has some similarity to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
A few days ago, Russia offered the Ukraine a major compromise.“We let you keep your military and weapons, but give us the assurance that the Ukraine remains a neutral state”
This would have ended the war, right there…..and the Ukraine could have lived happily thereafter… but Zelensky refused…..why?????
Now, a new meeting is planned, and Zelensky says, he is ready for negotiations, but if talks fail, it will be WW3. This guy has some nerve!
Does anyone really believe that Zelensky wants to stop the war? He would rather see not only his country, but also the rest of the world disappear under mushroom clouds.
I have to admit, when this war first started, I, like everyone else, was impressed by Zelensky… wearing his green army T-shirt… what a guy!... he is not like all the other politicians… he loves his country and is willing to die for it. How could anyone not love this man????
Yet, when he kept pushing the world towards WW3, I started getting a bit uneasy. And then I see him turn down this major compromise mentioned above???
A few days ago, he spoke to Congress. He spoke of Pearl Harbor and 9/11, and evoked images of Churchill…and , of course, she showed pictures of burning buildings and bloody children. He had some Congress members in tears. He most certainly made an impression.
A couple days later, he spoke to the German governing body.There, he spoke of a “wall” he is facing, a wall that separates him from Europe… and he reminded them of the Wall that came down in Berlin. And then he reminded them of the holocaust. Ouch!!! This is a very sensitive subject in Germany. The ugly past has been haunting the people of Germany since the end of WW2
In my personal opinion, he went too far, making this comparison.The Ukraine invasion is nothing like the Holocaust…. It’s not even like our invasion of Iraq, an invasion that started with a shock-and-awe bombardment of Iraq’s capital.
I am now seeing Zelensky as a skillful manipulator. And just last week, Zelensky has outlawed opposing parties in the Ukraine, and herewith has made himself the dictator of his country.
God help us all !
I agree, Ukraine is a corrupt toilet bowl.
No country deserves to be the target of an unprovoked attack on them for the lame justifications given by Putin.
Even a country as corrupt as Ukraine!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Ukraine
 | Corruption in Ukraine - Wikipedia Corruption is widespread in Ukrainian society. In 2012 Ernst & Young put Ukraine among the three most-corrupt nations of the world—alongside Colombia and Brazil. In 2015 The Guardian called Ukraine "the most corrupt nation in Europe". According to a poll conducted by Ernst & Young in 2017, experts considered Ukraine to be the ninth-most corrupt nation in the world. en.wikipedia.org |
When we are talking about corruption, wars, etc…. it’s never the people of a country. It’s always their leaders. I believe the majority of Ukrainian and Russian people are decent folks who want to live a normal life like most human beings. It’s the leaders and oligarchs who are the bad ones.
That being said,… the fact that the Ukraine is a corrupt country is no secret. If I am not mistaken, the reason why both NATO and the EU have refused to accept the Ukraine into their membership, is this corruption.
The fact that the Ukraine has been shelling and killing civilians in the break-away Republics of Donetsk and Lubansk, for the last few years, may have also contributed to their refusal.
I believe Pres Biden is also thoroughly familiar with corruption in the Ukraine. Did he not install his son hunter into the Board of Directors of the Burisma gas company…to fight corruption in the Ukraine?
Well, it was something like that, I believe.
Nevertheless…. I agree, no country should be invaded like this, regardless of whether the country is corrupt or not.
A couple of corrections. Ukraine is not ethnically part Russian, part Ukrainian. It is 85% Ukrainian 7-10% Russian and assorted others.
Russia is way, way WAY more corrupt than Ukraine. One is a legitimate democracy and one is not. Guess which one.
Ukraine's not being admitted into NATO has nothing to do with corruption. It is a measure of deference to Russia. Putin put an end to that deference. I have stated before and I restate here. NATO unwisely provoked Russia for the past 30 years.
Still, NATO is vital to our national interest in my view because it promotes democracy and freedom, which hopefully are still valued by Americans.
Trump, according to at least 2 members of his cabinet, would have exited NATO in his second term. Is it because he hates democracy as evidenced by Jan 6th? Or is it because he loves the tough guy image of Putin and other dictators?
Here's what Trump's National security advisor Bolton observed about Trump.
bolton is wrong. trump was not going to remove us from nato. also, a single president cannot do that. congress would have a say. trump sounded negative about nato for a reason. europe wants america to foot a huge chunk of the bill, and trump was just blatantly harsh about this.
europe wants to spend so much money on welfare for their citizens, and they don't have much left over for defense. and they always expect the usa to make up a big chunk of the nato budget. every president would hold private talks about this with euopean leaders. trump was openly harsh. but this does NOT mean he would seriously withdraw us from nato.
putin did what trump could not do. he has convinced europe that they must spend more for their own defense.
on another note, europe had hoped that being more friendly to russia might make russia less hostile to western europe.
putin used that to his advantage, and got europe addicted to russias energy.
putin is trying to grab massive land route to crimea. (eastern ukraine has lots of russians).
yes, ukraine is very corrupt, but... ukraine did Not attack russia. ukraine had no plans to be aggressive toward russia. and NO country can promise to be neutral FOREVER.
"Russia offered the Ukraine a major compromise.“We let you keep your military and weapons, but give us the assurance that the Ukraine remains a neutral state"
I'd like to see that source.
The only reported offer I've heard from Russia is:
1. Demilitarize.... (ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!!)
2. Democratically elected government step down.
3. Recognize separatist areas as Russian friendly independent states.
4. Promise to never enter NATO.
Forget it.
what the hell good is a "promise" between 2 such corrupt countries? Ukraine can promise all day long to end the war, then do whatever the hell they want after words. Exactly what mother Russia has done for decades.