Do you really think Russia feels threatened by an attack of NATO? All Russia wants is having back as much ex-soviet territories as possible and to enlarge its political influence sphere.
Bear in mind during the Cold War the US almost exchanged nuclear missiles rather than let Russia have an installation in our hemisphere, let alone at our border. I’m sure they’d prefer a buffer. It’s not about fearing an imminent attack, it’s about the capacity to attack in the future. Distance is response time.
But that’s NOT really it. He clearly has designs on claiming territory. If they rolled through Ukraine in a few days as they had planned, they damned sure wouldn’t have stopped there.
Yes, I think western military power DOES play a major role in Russia’s geopolitical/imperialistic strategy.
The EU alone has more expenses for military then Russia annually.
I do think Russia wants to
hav[e] back as much ex-soviet territories as possible and to enlarge its political influence sphere.
That’s exactly my point. If western influence grows, Russia pushes back, no matter if ethical or not.
That’s a core part of the conflict not a narrative superimposed on russia by people defending Putin.
The EU alone has more expenses for military then Russia annually
This is often spread, but highly debatable. Russia is in war economy mode and economic numbers published are highly flawed. The Russian government is the only one “customer” buying Russian weaponry in large numbers. Which leads to the aspect, that the military budget of the EU needs to be divided by 27 countries, 4 different aviation systems*, 17 different tanks* and so on. The EU is an economic union, not a military one. Russia on the other side has only very few but centralized weapon systems it needs to support. Comparing the raw numbers of the military budgets does not make sense at all.
If western influence grows, Russia pushes back, no matter if ethical or not.
Countries decide to be democracies and they decide they want to be part of a defense union because they are afraid of their imperialist neighbor in the east. Speaking of western vs Russian influence spheres just feeds the Russian propaganda machine in my opinion.
*I made the numbers the fuck up, but the point still holds
Do you really think Russia feels threatened by an attack of NATO? All Russia wants is having back as much ex-soviet territories as possible and to enlarge its political influence sphere.
Both of these things can be true.
Bear in mind during the Cold War the US almost exchanged nuclear missiles rather than let Russia have an installation in our hemisphere, let alone at our border. I’m sure they’d prefer a buffer. It’s not about fearing an imminent attack, it’s about the capacity to attack in the future. Distance is response time.
But that’s NOT really it. He clearly has designs on claiming territory. If they rolled through Ukraine in a few days as they had planned, they damned sure wouldn’t have stopped there.
Yes, I think western military power DOES play a major role in Russia’s geopolitical/imperialistic strategy. The EU alone has more expenses for military then Russia annually.
I do think Russia wants to
That’s exactly my point. If western influence grows, Russia pushes back, no matter if ethical or not.
That’s a core part of the conflict not a narrative superimposed on russia by people defending Putin.
This is often spread, but highly debatable. Russia is in war economy mode and economic numbers published are highly flawed. The Russian government is the only one “customer” buying Russian weaponry in large numbers. Which leads to the aspect, that the military budget of the EU needs to be divided by 27 countries, 4 different aviation systems*, 17 different tanks* and so on. The EU is an economic union, not a military one. Russia on the other side has only very few but centralized weapon systems it needs to support. Comparing the raw numbers of the military budgets does not make sense at all.
Countries decide to be democracies and they decide they want to be part of a defense union because they are afraid of their imperialist neighbor in the east. Speaking of western vs Russian influence spheres just feeds the Russian propaganda machine in my opinion.
*I made the numbers the fuck up, but the point still holds