[dawsmik]

He doesn't want NATO on his door step any more than we would want Mexico to ally with Russia. Ukraine and Russians share a somewhat similar history and the Russians see relative prosperity in Ukraine as a newly capitalist society. This does not reflect well on Putin. This is one of many reasons, including but not limited to: the money and resources Ukraine would bring and control of the gas lines that lead directly into the heart of the EU.

[bcrosby95]

NATO is already literally on his doorstep without Ukraine. All he has done is demonstrate why NATO is still necessary.

[dawsmik]

I agree with you on both points, I was just trying to present some possible motivations from Putin's perspective.

[hollerith]

>the Russians see relative prosperity in Ukraine

Russia is wealthier than Ukraine whether you go by total GDP or GDP per capita and whether you go by nominal GDP or GDP adjusted for purchasing power. Just looking at the maps at the tops of these next 2 pages was enough to verify that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)...

[wyldfire]

But if he annexes Ukraine or installs a puppet regime there, doesn't he get NATO on his doorstep anyways? Romania and Poland are both NATO members IIRC.

[dawsmik]

Yes, but a larger buffer between NATO and strategic assets like Moscow.

[vesinisa]

Nonsense. There is already about equal distance to Moscow from Latvia, a Nato and EU member, as there is from Ukraine. Despite, Ukraine was not really ever even close to Nato membership to start with. Western political alignment is completely separate from military alignment, although Putin has now made it absolutely clear these must go hand in hand for those sovereign countries he consider's "Russian vassal states."

[type0]

He said himself as-much: he would sleep better knowing that the missiles wouldn't reach Kremlin.

[vesinisa]

Putin's Nato card is a ruse. The European part of Russia was actually mostly surrounded by neutral states, only sharing border with Nato in Norway and the Baltics before the war. Now Putin might be even turning formerly neutral Nordic countries towards Nato - any sovereign state will always choose alliance over Russian occupation at a moment's notice. Ukraine was not even close to Nato membership and still very connected to the Russian sphere of influence before the Crimean occupation. Now the only way out of this mess is for Ukraine to either integrate more tightly to West or Russia to completely annex them, thus gaining four new Nato members on its border.

The Cold War is simply over, but the Putin regime does not really seem to have understood it. International commerce despite of military-political differences is the only sustainable way forward. China knows this, and Russia should take a hint.

[foxhill]

please. this is not the same thing. a similar thing might be to consider mexico allying with brazil.

there’s no sense in attempting to understand putin’s motivations. the KGB/FSB are number one with regard to disinformation and confusion. every armchair geopolitician will have their own pet-theory about the motivating factors for the aggression on ukraine.

in time, we’ll find out, i’m sure. the best anyone can do right now - if at all possible - is to help those displaced from ukraine, and put pressure on our politicians to invoke tougher sanctions on russia.

as tough as it might be for all the regular humans, i’m happy to see russia cut off from SWIFT.

[itake]

or we would want Mexico to alley with China. Better example IMHO is if Russia allied with Cuba and moved missiles there.

[every]

Been there, done that...