Jocke wrote:What the insane Vladimir Putin is doing is generally not supported and while I think we should sanction Russia, especially regarding oil&gas, there is no need to hurt small businesses where probably Russians and Ukrainians get on well. This is not a war between people but a war instigated by a dictator.
The 'dictators' (n velvet pseudo-liberal gloves) who instigated this crisis are the so-called 'liberal' US Democrat presidents Obama and Biden.
Obama/Nuland for overthrowing the democratically elected Ukrainian govt via a violet armed coup in 2014 (using literal Neo Nazis as 'moderate rebel' muscle, just as they funded/trained/armed rebranded literal Al Qaeda as 'HTS' in Syria), and dumping a US 'puppet president' Zelenskyy on the Ukrainian people. (Wikipedia: "Zelenskyy is a Ukrainian politician, former actor and comedian"... though it doesn't specify in which order).
And Biden/Blinken for not accepting that NATO missiles being positioned in Ukraine (within 10 minutes flight distance of Russia) has always been a *red line* for the Russian government.
The US took the world to the brink of a nuclear WW3 in 1962 over the Cuban Missile Crisis, after the US attempted invasion of Cuba (aka The Bay of Pigs) prompted Cuba to request nukes from its Communist ally Soviet Russia in order to deter a future attack.
'No nukes in our backyard was US red line in 1962, backed up with a nuclear threat to the Soviet Union (they know their own history, one would hope).
So for the US (NATO is the US, as all other NATO members are US vassals that do as the US tells them) to expect to be able to just roll into Ukraine with NATO nukes - and for Russia (Putin or any Russian leader, RF or Soviet, would react in the same way) not to immediately act to defend its territory from such an existential threat - would be delusional, were it not for the real objective (US/NATO absolute control of UK/EU govt policy going on).
The US needed a reason to sanction/kill Russian Nordstream 2 and force its UK/European vassals to use US LNG or UAE oil instead (for all their moral grandstanding, UK/European vassals are only permitted as much democracy/sovereignty as the US grants them).
Ukraine/Zelenskyy presented itself/himself as the most compliant puppet-pawn for that endeavour. And so here we are.
As for 'Insane Putin'.
As much as I am no fan, Putin is neither 'insane' (or 'evil', which is the other must used adjective western media applies to him). He is acting entirely rationally, if you recognize that Russia has consistently viewed NATO nuke advances towards their borders as an existential threat.
Western govts/leaders (and their media) always want their publics to think of those they regard as geopolitical opponents as 'insane and evil', because then the public stops asking further questions or looking for reasons why (Remember 'With God on our Side' George Bush and his 'axis of evil' and 'evil doers' speeches).
Insane people do what they do because they are insane. Evil people do what they do because they are evil. No 'reasons why' exist (so don't look for any) being the implication.
A public that refuses such infantile and dismissive labels, and instead views those their leaders are opposing as rational, will find many reasons for why Russia is acting as it is at present.
You may decide they are valid or invalid reasons (probably depending on which side of the NATO/Russia fence you are, and the biases of the media you consume), but to deny there are reasons and a logical-reasoned process behind what is going on (on both sides) is to blinker yourself from reality, which no adult should seek to do.