The US funding of opposition groups via NED/USAID, the 2014 ousting of Yanukovych, and the Donbas shelling are all widely documented.
“None of this justifies invasion and war”
Defending a population facing ethnic cleansing is one of the few true justifications for just war. Although in this case the liberation of the Donbas is likely more of a happy side effect of the brutal struggle between Washington and Moscow in which the Ukrainian people have become an unfortunate chess piece since the West brought the banderites to power to use as a spearhead in said struggle.
But all of this is sort of beside the point I was trying to make that hasn’t appeared to have landed. You said:
“defending itself … by attacking a different country that’s not part of NATO.”
This is reductionist to put it lightly. When a neutral government is replaced by one openly backed and funded by a military bloc that has spent decades encircling them, that very clearly constitutes a threat even if they have yet to or with how things are going never will become a true member (as the west pushes to fight to the last Ukrainian). Especially given the track record of Western funded groups/client states: The Mujahedeen, Isis, nuclear arms in turkey starting the Cuban missile crisis and so on.
If someone brandishes a knife at you you don’t have to wait for them to actually stab you for it to be self defence when you punch them in the face. Also I want to make it extremely clear here to avoid strawmanning that this is neither an endorsement or condemnation of the invasion but rather pointing out that taking reductionist/absolutist detached from reality positions on it helps nobody and only detaches you from meaningful understanding.
If you can’t explain why things happened the way they did or what’s likely to happen next without relying on idealist (and likely racist) notions of some evil Russian soul or mass brainwashing (as many westerns are fond of doing) then you’re not really worth listening to as you have no analysis or real understanding and you’re only doing yourself a disservice isolating yourself from the reality of the matter and spreading confusion and nonsense.
The US funding of opposition groups via NED/USAID, the 2014 ousting of Yanukovych, and the Donbas shelling are all widely documented.
Defending a population facing ethnic cleansing is one of the few true justifications for just war. Although in this case the liberation of the Donbas is likely more of a happy side effect of the brutal struggle between Washington and Moscow in which the Ukrainian people have become an unfortunate chess piece since the West brought the banderites to power to use as a spearhead in said struggle.
But all of this is sort of beside the point I was trying to make that hasn’t appeared to have landed. You said:
This is reductionist to put it lightly. When a neutral government is replaced by one openly backed and funded by a military bloc that has spent decades encircling them, that very clearly constitutes a threat even if they have yet to or with how things are going never will become a true member (as the west pushes to fight to the last Ukrainian). Especially given the track record of Western funded groups/client states: The Mujahedeen, Isis, nuclear arms in turkey starting the Cuban missile crisis and so on.
If someone brandishes a knife at you you don’t have to wait for them to actually stab you for it to be self defence when you punch them in the face. Also I want to make it extremely clear here to avoid strawmanning that this is neither an endorsement or condemnation of the invasion but rather pointing out that taking reductionist/absolutist detached from reality positions on it helps nobody and only detaches you from meaningful understanding.
If you can’t explain why things happened the way they did or what’s likely to happen next without relying on idealist (and likely racist) notions of some evil Russian soul or mass brainwashing (as many westerns are fond of doing) then you’re not really worth listening to as you have no analysis or real understanding and you’re only doing yourself a disservice isolating yourself from the reality of the matter and spreading confusion and nonsense.