Ukraine

It should go without saying that the war between Russia and Ukraine is a very complex situation and we probably should accept that most of what we hear in the media is at least in part propaganda.

I, like most, accepted from the get go that Putin had invaded Ukraine out of the blue and without provocation. Ukraine were the ‘good guys’ and Russia the ‘bad’! BUT I have come to realise over the months that it is far too simplistic to say that Russia is the wrongful aggressor in this conflict.

For the moment I will post this interesting, if lengthy, lecture in which the speaker asserts that Putin does not have a history of lying! Neither is he intent on conquering and occupying Ukraine which he could never have done with so few troops (190,000 troops invading a country of 40 million people) and without massive air power which he has not deployed.

We seem to have forgotten that the Soviet Union was constantly battling nationalist elements trying to break away from the union. The “war” in the Dombass has been ongoing since 2014.

Was the Russian invasion (military operation) in Ukraine actually a response to ongoing NATO expansion to create a bulwark on the border of Russia, and the perceived intention to turn Ukraine into a European nation. It is not insignificant that Ukraine had a third of the Soviet Union’s nuclear arsenal when it left the Soviet Union.

Since 2014 NATO has trained 10,000 new troops in Ukraine every year and run joint naval and military manouvres making Ukraine a de facto member of NATO. This is why the Ukrainian army was well able to resist the Russian incursion. Over the years NATO has pumped modern weaponry into the Ukraine and Puti on numerous occasions warned that this was unacceptable and an existential threat.

Anyway, have a listen.