"You have to understand, George. Ukraine is not even a country."
The words of Pooty Poot, whispered to the guy who had gazed into his soul, pretzeldent George w Bush.
What the West doesn't understand about Russia or Ukraine
Alexander Nazaryan·Senior White House Correspondent
Yahoo, Wed, February 23, 2022
“You have to understand, George. Ukraine is not even a country.”
Those were the jarring — and, it would turn out, prescient — words uttered by Russian strongman Vladimir Putin in 2008, during a meeting with then-President George W. Bush. It was an unambiguous assertion of ownership over a sovereign nation, an assertion that has particular resonance 14 years later, as Putin has just recognized the independence of two Ukrainian regions and sent troops to bolster Russian-backed separatists.
The West is outraged by Putin’s current aggression, as well as by the logic for his seemingly inevitable full-scale invasion. “Who in the Lord’s name does Putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belonged to his neighbors?” wondered President Biden in remarks delivered from the White House on Tuesday.
Such outrage, however, ignores a complex and uncomfortable truth: Many Russians recognize Putin’s sentiments about Ukraine as largely in keeping with established beliefs about the relationship between the nuclear superpower and its much smaller neighbor, which has a similar language and culture. That may explain why many Russians support military action against Ukraine, which they see as a necessary response to Western meddling.
“America badly wants to start this war,” an elderly Muscovite told the New York Times, citing — as Putin has — the expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe as a prime reason for the current conflict. Ukraine isn’t currently eligible for membership, but Russians have watched carefully as the Western alliance has crept ever closer throughout the last two decades.
Having grown up in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, I can safely say that most Russians view Ukraine as part of Russia. It is impossible to speak for a nation of 144 million people, especially long after leaving. However, the Russian view of geopolitics and history has, paradoxically, become more assertively nationalistic than it was during the Soviet era, when it tellingly embraced Joseph Stalin as a model leader.
Continues…
https://www.yahoo.com/news/what-the-west-doesnt-understand-about-russia-or-ukraine-215609030.html