[theironhammer]

Excellent post. Thank-you for this.

And to anyone who thinks taking the Russian point of view means you are Russian shill please view some John Meersheimer on YouTube. He also references prominent and respected IR American scholars who criticize American policy towards post Soviet Russia. It's been a disastrous mess. And now we face possible nuclear war because of arrogance.

[alkonaut]

Defending the invasion is being a Russian shill.

Arguing that policies have been poor isn’t.

It’s possible that this war could have been avoided through different policies, but this is an unprovoked invasion. Arguing it somehow has any responsibility outside Russia is like arguing rape victims should have dressed more appropriately.

[deepthunder]

Unprovoked? Have a read through these: https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/09/07/its-not-okay-for-gro...

Rand Corporation https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB10014.html

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR3063.html

[alkonaut]

By unprovoked I mean “no one walked into Russia or committed any acts of war against Russia”

It’s a term that’s used as “justified”.

[mnsc]

One big difference with living in the west is that I can read your post, and the GP. I can "take in the truth" and I can (and do) go further and read other, more credible sources and come to the conclusion that the worlds history is not black and white. The US is certainly not an innocent player. And then I can read Putin's own words and I can read Dugin and come to the conclusion that Russia is 100% at fault for the current situation in Ukraine. I might be wrong in this judgement, but at least I won't go to jail for expressing it.