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Putin tries to make it out as if Europe's been trampling on Russia all along, but why would be make much of our energy supply reliant on Russian gas if we distrusted Russia and didn't want to trade peacefully with them? while Russia has always been a bit of a challenge, i can't say the public mood in Europe in 1989 was one of "let's trample on Russia" - more like "maybe this is a new start?"

Putin had other ideas though.

before Putin began his business in Ukraine, NATO had turned into more of an alliance for military operations in other parts of the world than something that was specifically targeted at Russia.

ironically, because he didn't buy that, he made it true again.

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Discussion

Thorwegian 🇳🇴 2y ago

from Norway's perspective - we share a border with Russia and have a long history of peaceful trade with Russia - our hand has actually been forced by what Putin has been doing. we were trying to strengthen bonds to Russia, collaborate in the Arctic regions. even during the Cold War, Norway's been relatively friendly to Russia, despite having American backing. it's usually a bad idea to be enemies with your neighbours. Norway can't accept what's going on in Ukraine right now. sure, there are historical arguments for having Ukraine as part of Russia, but Russia kind of hoisted its own petard there didn't they...

Thorwegian 🇳🇴 2y ago

as i understand it, there's still quite massive support among the Russian public for what Putin is doing in Ukraine. i'm not sure if the average Russian citizen is aware of how little sympathy this has in the UN. even the Chinese are a bit reluctant to outright endorse these actions, because they don't want to burn bridges.