Quote:
Originally Posted by Pointman
Western countries do not claim territory because they are looking to install pro-western goverments. The only pre-requisite for them is to be pro-western. They do not have to be democratic, progressive, human rights activists or anything. They may very well go on and install shariat laws. Russia was doing more or less the same, however it failed to keep their pro-Russian leaders afloat. So, while this is by no means an excuse, Russia basically had to resort to annexination to keep a naval fleet base, which by the way, had a legal lease agreement till 2043 but it was a serious rist that it is not going to be honored. If Russia could keep pro-Russian Yanukovich in power, we would never invade Crimea, there would be no point. Somewhat similiar when the west knows it can not win a democratic election, it resorts to coups. When Russia can't defend coups, it resorts to invasions. I hope the next step will not be somebody resorting to wars. I'm not protecting Russia, nor the west, here. I basically think that everyone's bad to bones here and this is a very dirty game all around. |
Not that I'm condoning intervention of any kind but I think the days of Western governments putting in puppet governments like in Iran following WWII are long over. Arguably the last two armed interventions were done to remove supposed threats and the resulting governments that formed afterwards are both now openly hostile towards Western interests. Iraq is now more closely aligned to Iran than any point in it's history and Afghanistan is run by a bunch of corrupt Opium growers and thugs that have asked western powers to leave and they are leaving. Geopolitics are messy and dirty business to be sure but installation of a puppet/pro-western government in recent history wasn't necessarily the intended goal. Neither of those wars were really thought out ahead of time and far more motivated by a need for revenge.
Russian troops have reportedly advanced into the Ukrainian mainland north of the Crimean peninsula into the Kherson region.
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