If you really want to understand the Ukraine situation

[EmilyAnne]

2. This is an excellent article.

It has been very disappointing to see so many on the "left" and the West taking up for Putin's actions and buying into easily disproven Russian propaganda.

As I've said many times before, I have lived in Putin's Russia.
I have seen the shutdown of the free(ish) press, I have seen the rampant attacks on immigrants, minorities and gays be ignored or even celebrated by the "mainstream" Russian media as well as politicians.
I have seen the amping up of "Nashi" style rhetoric on mainstream television shows, in newspapers, in the classrooms where I taught.
I have watched hope turn to crippling fear as many dear minority or gay friends have retreated to living their lives in virtual hiding, going quickly from work to home, work to school, work to one very specific supermarket that seems to be in the safest area so as to avoid attacks from groups of Russian nationalists. Never at night, never at this or that metro station, never past this or that park or square, etc.
Never mind the staggering level of corruption that goes beyond anything I ever imagined.

In my opinion, the key to all of this that is being largely ignored by most of the media is the role of the Orthodox church and Putin's religious awakening in which he truly sees himself as God's anointed leader of the Holy Russian Empire. Patriarch Kirill has made this proclamation many times. This motivator can not be overstated but should definitely be feared.