[mjh2539]

The author doesn't care what Ukrainians want, and neither does Russia or the United States for that matter. He's a political realist. I think the author would say that you have the right to self-determination if you actually possess the political capital to have the right to begin with. It is obvious that the Ukrainians do not (whereas the Poles, French, Germans, etc. do).

[wonnage]

People are very much missing this point; there is no value judgement here over what "should" be happening.

There has always been clear red line; if NATO is attacked, we're starting WWIII. If a non-NATO friendly country is attacked, we'll complain loudly and declare sanctions.

Ukraine is not in NATO and we should've behaved accordingly (i.e, not sponsor a coup)

[glogla]

"We" (whoever that is) did not "sponsor a coup". Stop spreading misinformation. What happened was that the Ukrainian people were sick of Russian puppet and kicked him out - at great cost, he murdered a lot of them.

[gutitout]

It wouldn’t surprise me if it was a coup. Don’t forget Biden and his sons “business” there. It’s at the very least a valid theory.

[glogla]

What a monstrous attitude.

[scaramanga]

Luckily it is, essentialy, the basis of customary international law, otherwise the entire world would disintegrate in to ethnic violence until we ended up with perfectly aligned ethno-states rather than the borders we have now, the majority of which are in place as the relics of failed empires.