Blaming West is overthinking the situation IMHO. The most simple explanation is that Russia is controlled by corrupt hierarchy with psycho on top of it. The psycho feels nostalgia for imperialism and soviet era. The psycho values hectares of land over the lives of peaceful civilians.
This is a bold take to believe in Ukraine propaganda and your own experiences. Trust me I am a very rational well-read geopolitical expert in power politics from California. Everything is about the USA, NATO, Russia and China. Little people like the Ukrainians have no agency or will of their own so surely one of the big players made them resist Russia for their own ends. Otherwise why would any country want to orient towards the EU instead of staying in the thriving few countries that are still heavily influenced by Moscow
That's straight up Russian propaganda, so beware. In his ideas, a sovereign nation signing a treaty is an 'existential threat' for Russia, which of course, makes any problem in Ukraine the 'west's fault'. NATO expansion is not western imperialism, it is the result of 50 years of communist oppression and present-day anxiety of not ending up like Ukraine is right now. So, as someone who grew up in the eastern bloc, fuck Mearsheimer.
https://www.henryakissinger.com/articles/how-the-ukraine-cri...