Russia begins moving troops into eastern Ukraine

[Belsnickel]

(02-25-2022, 12:12 AM)Bengalzona Wrote: As far as Biden, I'm not a fan. He has been sort of mediocre as a POTUS, IMO. But while he has not been especially innovative with this Ukraine situation, I'm not exactly sure what his critics expected him to do here. I'd like to hear what people feel he could have done to avoid this, because I'm not seeing it.

Of course he hasn't been innovative. He's an old hand at all of this and his moves are predictable. As for what we could've done to avoid this? Support a referendum for the separatist regions and agree to not add Ukraine to NATO. We tend to overlook our role in creating this problem. Don't get me wrong, Putin is an imperialistic oligarch and is in the wrong, here, but the US and Europe has gone back on their agreements and it instigated this. In 1990, both the US and NATO agreed to no eastward expansion beyond Germany with the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. That was ignored and as the USSR fell, their former nations were added to the NATO roster. This is of concern to Russia as the distance between NATO, an organization really created to be antagonistic to them, creeps closer to their main seat of power. Ukraine was the last frontier in that regard as it provides a strategic pathway to major Russian cities from the west.

Now, this is the explanation coming from many folks that know this issue fairly well. There is probably a lot more to it, as international relations is very complex and multi-faceted. But this explanation really makes sense to me.