[daenz]

I am admittedly not even close to an expert to what's going on over there, but my understanding is that Ukraine and its people are very close to the heart of Russia. That makes me think that dropping a nuke people who you consider your brothers is out of the question.

[Normille]

  >I am admittedly not even close to an expert to what's going on over there...

Don't let that stop you from weighing in with your opinions. It doesn't deter the other eleventy billion people pontificating about this crisis in somewhere they hadn't heard of til a fortnight ago.

[daenz]

Instead of snark, could you provide something constructive? I'm trying to get a better understanding of the relationship, and from my research, Russian leaders and citizens appear to be quite fond of Ukrainian people. Is this not accurate?

[panarky]

If Russia is so fond of Ukrainian people why would they drop cluster bombs in civilian areas and fire rockets at residential buildings?

[daenz]

What a loaded question. Are you asserting that Russia hates the Ukrainian people, and is invading because they want them destroyed?

[mickotron]

Do you deny those things occurred? Way to put up an insta-Strawman. Instead, try to address what the person actually said and meant, in good faith.

[Normille]

You [and the vast majority of other people] could start by at least seeking out the other side of the story and not unquestioningly swallowing this ridiculous American over-simplification of every global crisis into "We're the good guys and they're the bad guys."

The Russians have legitimate fears about the encroachment of NATO and American weaponry right onto their doorstep. You might want to look up a historical event called 'The Cuban Missile Crisis' to see how the US has acted in the past, in a similar situation [see also Nicaragua, Venezuela, etc]

The Russians believe that a democratically elected and pro-Russian government in Ukraine was over-thrown by a US engineered coup [Euro Maidan] and replaced by a fiercely right-wing anti-Russian regime, which is hell-bent on joining NATO and thus having American missiles stationed there [and Ukraine is a lot closer to Russia than Cuba is to America]

The Russians also say their citizens in the two breakaway regions are being genocided. Although that is, at best, an exaggeration used to justify the invasion.

Now, before you accuse me of being a Russian supporter or apologist, I'm not. I'm as outraged by this invasion as anyone else. But to simply pretend that it's all happened because evil mad dictator Putin has suddenly turned into Adolf Hitler reincarnated, while Uncle Sam has been innocently sitting on the sidelines, polishing his halo, is to bring a play school level of critical thought process to bear on the situation.

[lawn]

This is true.

Unfortunately, Putin doesn't seem to care.

[lamontcg]

Putin isn't the only person in Russia.

We need to stop thinking of nations as this one dimensional cult of personality of their leader.

I think Putin would have a very difficult time getting his generals to agree to nuking Kyiv.

That's the kind of order which leads to coups.

[vmception]

Enough of his advisors and generals are already afraid of him

They just don’t know how much support they have

The default penalty for a slightly different perspective is 15 years in prison

The expected penalty is falling out of a first floor window

Everyone is surrounded by people vying for power that will double cross anyone to imprison their direct competitors

Its a prisoners dilemma that allows Putin to use his consolidated power unabated

[hutrdvnj]

> Its a prisoners dilemma that allows Putin to use his consolidated power unabated

Except if you would assassinate Putin.