DId you watch the video and hear Biden brag about expanding NATO???
So by your 'logic', Russia should also invade Finland because it *actually* joined NATO and shares a 1,000 km border with Russia.
It's never been about NATO. This is Russian imperialism 100%. The whole reason NATO even exists is Russia can't keep its hands off other countries. Putin's rambling essay never mentions NATO. It's all about Ukraine really being Russia.
www.atlanticcouncil.org
Dec 2021Yeah except for the fact the Ukraine was denied a MAP back in 2008, and NATO membership for them was pretty much never brought back up until Russia escalated their 8 year old invasion in 2022.
Nato allies divided over Ukraine and Georgia
At least six members oppose US push for new formula that would put countries on slow path to membershipwww.theguardian.com
Merkel defends 2008 decision to block Ukraine from NATO
Former German chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday defended her 2008 decision to block Ukraine from immediately joining NATO, rejecting President Volodymyr Zelensky's criticism as Russia's invasion clouds…www.france24.com
www.pbs.org
www.vox.com
www.codepink.org
www.army.mil
foreignpolicy.com
Dec 2021
Biden assures Zelenskiy that NATO membership in Ukraine's hands, Kyiv says
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www.reuters.com
June 2021 talks about Uktraine joining NATO
Ukraine president says nation is ready to join NATO
U.S. President Joe Biden has invited Zelenskyy to meet with him in Washington in July and the Ukrainian president said he intends to talk there about U.S. military and economic support, which Ukraine relies on.
Jan 2022
How America’s NATO expansion obsession plays into the Ukraine crisis
The post-Cold War debates shaping the current standoff with Russia.
"When tens of thousands of Russian troops started moving toward the Ukrainian border late last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin effectively issued an ultimatum: They won’t go home until he had “concrete agreements prohibiting any further eastward expansion of NATO.”
"This week, as the US and Russia exchange formal diplomatic letters, Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized that “NATO’s door is open, remains open, and that is our commitment.”
“The open-door policy is the one that maximizes friction with Russia, which has culminated in the crisis we have now,” said Mary Sarotte, a historian of international relations at Johns Hopkins University. “I don’t think Vladimir Putin is primarily interested in historical accuracy, but I believe he is genuinely aggrieved at the way the post–Cold War order includes no stake for Russia.”
"In May of 2021, Ukraine recklessly hosted the biggest NATO war games in years in eastern Ukraine near the front of the ongoing war in the Donbass. 20 Western countries joined in these war games. This was just a month after Kiev petitioned NATO to accelerate its “Membership Action Plan”.The USA Caused the War in Ukraine, and Only the USA Can End It
We’re led to believe that the war in Ukraine started in February with Russia’s invasion. In reality, this war has been going on for 8 years, fueled by American support. This support has largely been funneled to neo-Nazis and ultranationalist elements fundamentally opposed to democracy. So...
In August of 2021, Zelensky began engaging in peace talks with Russia over the war in the Donbass. Neo-Nazis staged an armed riot in Kiev, trashing the Presidential office building. Luckily, Zelensky wasn’t there that day, but the message was received all the same: No negotiations. No compromise."
A month later, in September, Ukraine again hosted NATO war games near the front in the Donbass. Again, 20 countries took part in these war games, in a wildly provocative escalation."
Large-scale Ukrainian-American military exercise strengthens cooperation
Showcasing an ability to jointly and operationally flex in a dynamic environment— to leverage multinational cooperation and insert ground forces both ra...
joint military operations between US and Ukraine in 2021
"U.S. President Joe Biden has said for years that Ukraine will one day become a member of NATO. In fact, he was asserting this before most Ukrainians had any desire to join the alliance. “If you choose to be part of Euro-Atlantic integration, which I believe you have, then we strongly support that,” he announced on a trip to Kyiv as vice president in 2009. In Ukraine that year, only 28 percent favored NATO membership for their country, while 51 percent opposed it. Biden has remained committed to the idea in principle. “Ukraine’s future lies at NATO,” he insisted again in Vilnius, Lithuania, last summer."America Is in Denial About NATO’s Future
An alliance that includes Ukraine will require a vastly larger military and economic commitment.
Well you know that, I know that and most people in the world know that, yet somehow there are those here that are willfully ignorant, it seems.It's never been about NATO. This is Russian imperialism 100%. The whole reason NATO even exists is Russia can't keep its hands off other countries. Putin's rambling essay never mentions NATO. It's all about Ukraine really being Russia.
Putin's new Ukraine essay reveals imperial ambitions
Russian President Vladimir Putin has outlined the historical basis for his claims against Ukraine in a controversial new essay that has been likened in some quarters to a declaration of war.
It's never been about NATO. This is Russian imperialism 100%. The whole reason NATO even exists is Russia can't keep its hands off other countries. Putin's rambling essay never mentions NATO. It's all about Ukraine really being Russia.
Putin's new Ukraine essay reveals imperial ambitions
Russian President Vladimir Putin has outlined the historical basis for his claims against Ukraine in a controversial new essay that has been likened in some quarters to a declaration of war.
1) Biden was illegally installed as President and he had for years said he wanted Ukraine to be part of NATO
1) This is a moronic position, and it was George Bush who made the strongest push for Ukraine to be invited to NATO, and still Merkel vetoed him, and it wasn't brought up again until Putin escalated the 2014 invasion.
www.stimson.org
What Biden/US was doing in the Ukraine was the perfect excuse Putin needed to go into Ukraine. Kind of like when the Capitol Police open the doors of the US Capitol building letting protestors inside then call it an insurrection.1) This is a moronic position, and it was George Bush who made the strongest push for Ukraine to be invited to NATO, and still Merkel vetoed him, and it wasn't brought up again until Putin escalated the 2014 invasion.
2) The US didn't start sending aid to Ukraine until Russia invaded in 2014, and then it was only small arms, training, and some javelins, to the time of $2.8 billion from 2014-2021. Basically nothing when it comes to weapon systems.
U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine Breaks All Precedents • Stimson Center
A look at the evolution of Washington’s unprecedented security assistance effort to Ukraine.
3)We started providing additional training to Ukraine in 2021 because we knew if Russia's imminent escalation that Putin lied about till the very day he launched it.
Ukraine crisis: Putin says military drills 'purely defensive' and 'not a threat' as Western leaders warn invasion imminent
The West has said Russia is likely to invade Ukraine soon but Vladimir Putin denies this, saying he is just carrying out planned military exercises.news.sky.com
4) There were no "NATO war games" in Donbas in 2021. Rapid Trident has occurred every year since 2006, and takes place at Yavoriv military training ground, which is 15 miles from Lviv in western Ukraine. Your willful ignorance rivals that of @LSU-SIU.
Rapid Trident - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
Your entire post is a regurgitation of Kremlin nonsense and misinformation.
You can quote codepink (lol) all you want, that still won't make "NATO war games" to have occurred in Ukraine in May of 2021. Feel free to provide corroborating sources though.
As I already showed you, Rapid Trident happened for years in Ukraine, and takes place in the west, nowhere near Donbas, but even if it did, Donbas if part of Ukraine, and if Ukraine wanted to hold military exercises there, it's their right to do so.
Russian soldiers were already in Ukraine, and had been for 7 years by 2021. Putin escalated because he thought he could take the entirety of Ukraine with little to no resistance, because his 'yes men' in the 5th services branch of the FSB lied to him about how Ukraine would collapse and Russia would be welcomed.
Putin Places Spies Under House Arrest
After two weeks of halting war against Ukraine, Vladimir Putin just suddenly launched an attack in a surprising direction — his beloved agency, the FSB.cepa.org
www.presstv.ir
Dec 2021
Ukraine planning 10 war games with participation of foreign troops next year
Ukraine says it is planning ten military exercises for next year, with the participation of thousands or foreign troops, in yet another move that raises the risk of a military confrontation with Russia.
"Ukraine says it is planning ten military exercises for next year with the participation of thousands or foreign troops, in yet another move that raises the risk of a military confrontation with Russia.
The Ukrainian parliament approved a draft law on Tuesday allowing the participation of foreign troops in military exercises in 2022.
According to the law, sent by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine plans to hold 10 large military exercises next year.
Before the vote, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Anatoliy Petrenko told parliament that 11,500 troops from the United States, Britain, Poland, Romania, and other countries would participate in the exercises, along with 21,000 Ukrainian troops.
The war games would be carried out on land, at sea, and in the air, according to Petrenko......
Ukraine, which is not a member of NATO, has stepped up military cooperation with Western countries in recent weeks.....
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Monday against the expansion of NATO military activity to Ukraine, saying the activities would constitutes a "direct threat" to the security of his country.
Putin emphasized the need for immediate talks with the West to come up with a clear, international legal agreement that would prevent NATO's further expansion east and the deployment of weapons that threaten Russia to its neighboring states, primarily Ukraine, the Kremlin said in a statement.
The United States, its NATO allies, and Ukraine accuse Moscow of amassing troops near Ukraine's border for a possible invasion. Russia says there is no such plan. Moscow also says Washington is involved in aggressive moves in the Black Sea, where Ukraine and the US have held military drills recently.
