Here’s a rational argument against his position from someone living very near to Russia. You might even visit here if you choose to attend the next Nostr Unconference :)

What riles me up the most is his gripe about “NATO expanding and encroaching on Russian interests”. Here’s the thing. We worked very hard to get into NATO for more than a decade. Look up Vaira Vike Freiberga NATO speech. We wanted to get in because we never wanted the repeat of Russian occupation. We barely survived the last one as a nation.

He can’t wrap his mind around the idea that people might have a will of their own that they exercise through action.

From our point of view it was us who wanted out of the Soviet Union , we took action to achieve that (see Baltic Way, barricades). We wanted to get into EU and NATO. We took action and achieved that. It’s not Soviet Union breaking apart, and NATO expanding. We did it, even though nobody apart from us was very keen on either idea.

From this perspective, we understand Ukrainians. They wanted to rid themselves from corrupt pro-Moscow president who wanted to nix the EU association agreement. They took action, and achieved it.

To punish them, Russia annexed Crimea, and invaded the country. Then launched a full scale invasion 8 years later to destroy Ukrainians as people and as a nation.

He can’t stomach the fact that people can have a will that they express through action. He can’t stomach the fact that people would want the freedom to choose their own government.