[nickpp]

From Putin himself. His speeches in the last 20 years. He was quite upfront with his ambitions: restauration of the last Russian Empire, the Soviet Union.

Eastern Europe and ex-USSR republics have been trying to warn the world for quite a while, it's the West who refused to listen.

Read Kasparov's "Winter is Coming" book to understand more.

[marsa]

i haven't heard / read his speeches but isn't that just regular political speech? 'we'll make x great again' where they invoke some mythical glorious past x and make grand promises to appease the masses?

i'll check the book out, but if there's less speculative stuff like leaked cables, war plans, fact based reporting etc out there i'd be more receptive to the idea that the Russians were genuinely about to blitzkrieg Europe if all went well in Ukraine

it just sounds too ridiculous and farfetched

[jacquesm]

That's because it is ridiculous and farfetched. Unfortunately that doesn't stop Putin from trying.