This has been obvious ever since Euromaidan. Putin has never taken the possibility of a western military attack seriously, which is evident by the total disinterest in Finland and Sweden joining NATO. His real worry is not external, but internal – because if Ukraine can take a more democratic turn (or at least not Kremlin controlled) and Lukashenko barely managed to stay in power by the skin of his teeth, then how long untill Putin’s domestic opponents become bolder? The invasion of 2022 was a desperate attempt at reasseting his position as the undisputed tzar.
This is why no real ceasefire is possible, even if Ukraine were to accept to ceding their eastern oblasts. Because even a smaller Ukraine becoming more western is a beacon to russian subjects that change is possible.
Maybe we should act like the threat he thinks we are and show some teeth.
We’re not a pushover. We have values, and we have the means to defend them.
That is why he pays subversive elements in Europe. AfD, BSW, Fidesz, PVV, RN
This was kinda obvious
He sought to and succeeded remove the UK from the EU not from NATO
I’m sure there were things he could of pulled to succeed
The EU is the only way Europe can stand against China the US and Russia
None of those countries want a strong united Europe
He can go eat his okroshka and leave us alone
>*They’d called it the “Orange Revolution.” Precisely, a revolution! It was the final assault on what remained of Russian power. The year before, it had happened in Georgia. There, they’d called it the “Rose Revolution”! In that case, too, the upshot of the revolution, with its pretty girls and noble ideals, had been the installation of a CIA spy to head the government. You didn’t need a crystal ball to imagine where they were headed next: Russia. A big color-coded revolution in Moscow, a new president with maybe a master’s from Yale on his résumé, and the United States’ victory would be complete. Bush Junior could star in another of those masquerades he liked so much. “Mission accomplished!”—but this time coming to you directly from Red Square.*
From Giuliano da Empoli’s, *The Wizard of the Kremlin*.
The Wizard is the one speaking, a fictional character modeled on Putin’s real advisor (Surkov). In the paranoid vision of the Tsar there is no space for alternative narratives, Western narratives. Liberal democracy is an existential threat for the Kremlin thug.
He is the threat to the world
Of course.
NATO is a military threat he can use to fearmonger Russians. (even if it’s not a threat at all, no one wants to attack Russia, and obviously there is nuclear deterrent anyway)
Europe however is an economic threat. Ukraine joining and developing higher Standards of living than so called “grand russia” would be a humilation for Putin and no amount of propaganda could hide that from the ordinary russian. There is a reason why Hungary is in the EU and not in BRICS, despite Orban sucking Putins wiener 24/7.
I think the country’s unwillingly in Russias sphere of influence definitely see the EU as a beacon of hope and an escape from centuries of Russian imperialism, regardless of the EUs flaws it’s a fundamentally better thing to be part of than the Russian federation. NATO cannot be discounted its military might keeps Russia at bay, but the EUs political, economic and cultural influence is equally as enticing to Russian vassals to escape the Russian empire.
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well there is some overlap.
Paywall
This has been obvious ever since Euromaidan. Putin has never taken the possibility of a western military attack seriously, which is evident by the total disinterest in Finland and Sweden joining NATO. His real worry is not external, but internal – because if Ukraine can take a more democratic turn (or at least not Kremlin controlled) and Lukashenko barely managed to stay in power by the skin of his teeth, then how long untill Putin’s domestic opponents become bolder? The invasion of 2022 was a desperate attempt at reasseting his position as the undisputed tzar.
This is why no real ceasefire is possible, even if Ukraine were to accept to ceding their eastern oblasts. Because even a smaller Ukraine becoming more western is a beacon to russian subjects that change is possible.
Maybe we should act like the threat he thinks we are and show some teeth.
We’re not a pushover. We have values, and we have the means to defend them.
That is why he pays subversive elements in Europe. AfD, BSW, Fidesz, PVV, RN
This was kinda obvious
He sought to and succeeded remove the UK from the EU not from NATO
I’m sure there were things he could of pulled to succeed
The EU is the only way Europe can stand against China the US and Russia
None of those countries want a strong united Europe
He can go eat his okroshka and leave us alone
>*They’d called it the “Orange Revolution.” Precisely, a revolution! It was the final assault on what remained of Russian power. The year before, it had happened in Georgia. There, they’d called it the “Rose Revolution”! In that case, too, the upshot of the revolution, with its pretty girls and noble ideals, had been the installation of a CIA spy to head the government. You didn’t need a crystal ball to imagine where they were headed next: Russia. A big color-coded revolution in Moscow, a new president with maybe a master’s from Yale on his résumé, and the United States’ victory would be complete. Bush Junior could star in another of those masquerades he liked so much. “Mission accomplished!”—but this time coming to you directly from Red Square.*
From Giuliano da Empoli’s, *The Wizard of the Kremlin*.
The Wizard is the one speaking, a fictional character modeled on Putin’s real advisor (Surkov). In the paranoid vision of the Tsar there is no space for alternative narratives, Western narratives. Liberal democracy is an existential threat for the Kremlin thug.
He is the threat to the world
Of course.
NATO is a military threat he can use to fearmonger Russians. (even if it’s not a threat at all, no one wants to attack Russia, and obviously there is nuclear deterrent anyway)
Europe however is an economic threat. Ukraine joining and developing higher Standards of living than so called “grand russia” would be a humilation for Putin and no amount of propaganda could hide that from the ordinary russian. There is a reason why Hungary is in the EU and not in BRICS, despite Orban sucking Putins wiener 24/7.
I think the country’s unwillingly in Russias sphere of influence definitely see the EU as a beacon of hope and an escape from centuries of Russian imperialism, regardless of the EUs flaws it’s a fundamentally better thing to be part of than the Russian federation. NATO cannot be discounted its military might keeps Russia at bay, but the EUs political, economic and cultural influence is equally as enticing to Russian vassals to escape the Russian empire.