[aparticulate]

I think it's a fine rule of thumb but what does Putin have to gain from negotiating with Zelenskyy who he is seen as a Western puppet orchestrated as legacy of US intel agency involvement? (Which we admitted is true…)

People in this thread are completely incapable of seeing any legitimacy in any Russian concerns about Ukraine.

[snowwrestler]

Whether someone's concerns are legitimate is in the eye of the beholder, but actions can be directly observed. Unilateral violent invasion must not become a legitimate tactic again. It was the norm for centuries, and excluding it resulted in the fastest rise in global living standards in history--including in the U.S. and Russia.

[aparticulate]

Do you recommend violent 2014 coups instead? That is our position on Ukraine, officially.

[int_19h]

The coup happened before 2014, when Yanukovich took over the supreme court and reverted the country's constitution.

[run4yourlives2]

The US was literally created the same way.

[snowwrestler]

Yes, actually, that’s how a lot of modern states got founded.

[aparticulate]

legitimate is in the eye of the beholder is right!

[actionfromafar]

I'm just raising concerns! With a howitser.

[aparticulate]

So NATO is literally trying to kill Putin, what formal legal avenue would you like Russia to take?

Decades of NATO enlargement. What do you expect? Poke bear enough and it will bite you! But don’t be shocked…

[actionfromafar]

Putin could have kicked back and enjoyed his dacha like other less powerful dictators do all over the world, but no, he had to write a "scientific" treatise about Ruski Mir and how the Ukraine isn't actually a thing. He wants a legacy.

Well, he got it and whatever happens in the war, Russia is cooked. It's never coming back from this.

It will either fracture from the war going badly, or it will become a vassal state of China, and ironically, perhaps the US, the way things are going with the White House these days.

[aparticulate]

The other powerful “dictators” get dragged through the streets or hanged for daring to enjoy an economic system outside the US dollar. Putin knows this and so should you.

[actionfromafar]

It's very easy. To not get dragged in the streets as a dictator, you need a) nukes and b) chill in your dacha.

Putins actions now actually exposed himself to the dragged-in-the-streets treatment, by his own people. But it's all worth it, because of Ruski Mir.