"Biden’s refusal to meet with Putin almost guaranteed that the Russians would see no other way to settle their grievances than direct intervention."
So, you blame Biden for the carnage Putin is creating in Ukraine? Wake up, and stop carrying Putin's propaganda. This was never about NATO "expansion," It was always about Putin's longing for a new Russian empire.
Vladimir Putin's article ”On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians“ of 12 July 2021 may be the best place to start to understand what is motivating his current invasion and attempt to conquer Ukraine. Early military plans and preparations for this invasion were probably already underway when he penned it; this war was clearly many months in the making.
It's a massive piece on his problems with Ukraine, and curiously in this 6,979-word tome, NATO doesn't even come up 'til word 6,184. Clearly it wasn't top of mind. It's a long history of mother Russia, and how all this, meaning Ukraine, the Baltic republics, parts of modern Poland, Austria, etc. were once hers, and how it was all taken away by the western imperialists, or given away by the Bolsheviks—Vladimir Lenin's Communist Party. Its main theme, expressed clearly in the first paragraph is “that Russians and Ukrainians were one people – a single whole.”
But Putin doesn't just seek a reunification of Russia and Ukraine, as in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, he longs for what he calls “Ancient Rus.” He tells us:
Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians are all descendants of Ancient Rus, which was the largest state in Europe. Slavic and other tribes across the vast territory – from Ladoga, Novgorod, and Pskov to Kiev and Chernigov – were bound together by one language (which we now refer to as Old Russian), economic ties, the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty, and – after the baptism of Rus – the Orthodox faith.
He tells us that “both the nobility and the common people perceived Rus as a common territory, as their homeland.” He recalls the “tradition of ancient Russian statehood.” How “Moscow princes...cast off the foreign yoke and began gathering the Russian lands.” He tells us how, in 1654 “dozens of cities, including Kiev...swore allegiance to the Russian tsar,” and after 1686 “The Russian state incorporated the city of Kiev and the lands on the left bank of the Dnieper River, including Poltava region, Chernigov region, and Zaporozhye.” He claims “the word ”Ukrainian“, judging by archival documents, originally referred to frontier guards who protected the external borders.”
I don't know enough Russian history to confirm or dispute Putin's telling of it, but his main point comes through clear enough—that the Russian and Ukrainian people represent one indivisible whole, and that Ukrainian lands have always been a part of Russia.
...
Then he gets back to the problem of NATO expansion, and his often-repeated story that:
In 1990, when German unification was discussed, the United States promised the Soviet leadership that NATO jurisdiction or military presence will not expand one inch to the east and that the unification of Germany will not lead to the spread of NATO's military organisation to the east. This is a quote.
Many others have disputed Putin's recollection of what was said, and Putin cites no treaty or official document. Putin just says “They issued lots of verbal assurances.” Well, Mr. Diplomat, Mr. KGB, you didn't get it in writing?
Timothy Snyder spoke about this on Democracy Now, Monday:
So, when Germany was unified, the Americans and the Soviets did make an arrangement about West Germany and East Germany. That arrangement, however, did not foresee and had nothing to do with the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union. We’re talking about something that happened in 1990. In 1991, to everyone’s surprise, the Soviet Union no longer existed. And after that point, it’s very important to remember that the world isn’t just about Washington and Moscow. It’s also about other sovereign states and other peoples, who can express their desires and have their own foreign policies.
So, when we speak of NATO enlargement, I mean, that’s a bit of a misnomer. NATO was not there to enlarge. There wasn’t much willingness on the part of Western Europe or the U.S. to enlarge. It was the East Europeans themselves who pushed the process forward. I mean, we can decide that they didn’t understand their own national interests, but that’s how the process unfolded. It came from the East Europeans. And there was never an understanding between the United States and Russia after 1991 that this wasn’t going to happen.
So much for the so-called broken promise about NATO expansion.
"Biden’s refusal to meet with Putin almost guaranteed that the Russians would see no other way to settle their grievances than direct intervention."
So, you blame Biden for the carnage Putin is creating in Ukraine? Wake up, and stop carrying Putin's propaganda. This was never about NATO "expansion," It was always about Putin's longing for a new Russian empire.
https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/03/vlad-on-vlad-how-putins-views-on-lenin.html
Vladimir Putin's article ”On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians“ of 12 July 2021 may be the best place to start to understand what is motivating his current invasion and attempt to conquer Ukraine. Early military plans and preparations for this invasion were probably already underway when he penned it; this war was clearly many months in the making.
It's a massive piece on his problems with Ukraine, and curiously in this 6,979-word tome, NATO doesn't even come up 'til word 6,184. Clearly it wasn't top of mind. It's a long history of mother Russia, and how all this, meaning Ukraine, the Baltic republics, parts of modern Poland, Austria, etc. were once hers, and how it was all taken away by the western imperialists, or given away by the Bolsheviks—Vladimir Lenin's Communist Party. Its main theme, expressed clearly in the first paragraph is “that Russians and Ukrainians were one people – a single whole.”
But Putin doesn't just seek a reunification of Russia and Ukraine, as in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, he longs for what he calls “Ancient Rus.” He tells us:
Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians are all descendants of Ancient Rus, which was the largest state in Europe. Slavic and other tribes across the vast territory – from Ladoga, Novgorod, and Pskov to Kiev and Chernigov – were bound together by one language (which we now refer to as Old Russian), economic ties, the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty, and – after the baptism of Rus – the Orthodox faith.
He tells us that “both the nobility and the common people perceived Rus as a common territory, as their homeland.” He recalls the “tradition of ancient Russian statehood.” How “Moscow princes...cast off the foreign yoke and began gathering the Russian lands.” He tells us how, in 1654 “dozens of cities, including Kiev...swore allegiance to the Russian tsar,” and after 1686 “The Russian state incorporated the city of Kiev and the lands on the left bank of the Dnieper River, including Poltava region, Chernigov region, and Zaporozhye.” He claims “the word ”Ukrainian“, judging by archival documents, originally referred to frontier guards who protected the external borders.”
I don't know enough Russian history to confirm or dispute Putin's telling of it, but his main point comes through clear enough—that the Russian and Ukrainian people represent one indivisible whole, and that Ukrainian lands have always been a part of Russia.
...
Then he gets back to the problem of NATO expansion, and his often-repeated story that:
In 1990, when German unification was discussed, the United States promised the Soviet leadership that NATO jurisdiction or military presence will not expand one inch to the east and that the unification of Germany will not lead to the spread of NATO's military organisation to the east. This is a quote.
Many others have disputed Putin's recollection of what was said, and Putin cites no treaty or official document. Putin just says “They issued lots of verbal assurances.” Well, Mr. Diplomat, Mr. KGB, you didn't get it in writing?
Timothy Snyder spoke about this on Democracy Now, Monday:
So, when Germany was unified, the Americans and the Soviets did make an arrangement about West Germany and East Germany. That arrangement, however, did not foresee and had nothing to do with the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union. We’re talking about something that happened in 1990. In 1991, to everyone’s surprise, the Soviet Union no longer existed. And after that point, it’s very important to remember that the world isn’t just about Washington and Moscow. It’s also about other sovereign states and other peoples, who can express their desires and have their own foreign policies.
So, when we speak of NATO enlargement, I mean, that’s a bit of a misnomer. NATO was not there to enlarge. There wasn’t much willingness on the part of Western Europe or the U.S. to enlarge. It was the East Europeans themselves who pushed the process forward. I mean, we can decide that they didn’t understand their own national interests, but that’s how the process unfolded. It came from the East Europeans. And there was never an understanding between the United States and Russia after 1991 that this wasn’t going to happen.
So much for the so-called broken promise about NATO expansion.
Thank you for this education Left Coast.