I could probably research this point, and maybe I will, but for the moment, I have a question regarding ethnic Russians in Ukraine: why are they in Ukraine at all? Doesn't it seem so much easier, and less violent, for the ethnic Russians who pine to live under Putin simply to pull up their tent stakes and leave? There are things here that don't add up, at least in my mind. Why didn't Putin simply tell the ethnic Russians in Ukraine to move to Russia? Is this more about the land? Or is it that these ethnic Russians actually like living in Ukraine as Ukrainian citizens? If the latter, I think this is an opportunity for Zelenskyy, who is a showman after all, to make the bold pronouncement that he loves his Russian brothers and sisters in Ukraine and thinks they contribute something wonderful to the cultural fabric of the country in terms of language, food, traditions, etc., and that he would fight and die for them to have them remain in Ukraine, rather than for them to become slaves under Putin.
Something really doesn't add up about all this.
If the larger point of Putin's invasion is about Ukraine's desire to join NATO and the EU, well, Ukraine is a sovereign state that can make up its own mind about its own destiny. Putin's invasion tells us everything we need to know about his thoughts on Ukrainian sovereignty. But to the extent that there's an ethnic component in all this, I do have to wonder what Russian-Ukrainians are thinking.
Some questions to research, then:
1. How did Russians end up living in Ukraine in the first place?
2. How many of those ethnic Russians are happy/unhappy about living in Ukraine?
3. Why don't the ethnic Russians who favor Putin's umbrella simply move to Russia?
As for the "red line" question, I think I actually understand that: from what I've read, Putin has been banging on about Ukraine's not becoming a NATO member for years. Putin simply doesn't want to see NATO at his doorstep. As Professor Mearsheimer pointed out in that old video I embedded the other day, imagine if Canada and Mexico allowed Chinese troops to station themselves right next to the US border. How would Americans feel about that? We had a taste of that with Cuba years back. Putin is wrong to disrespect Ukraine's sovereignty, but his ire at Ukraine's desire to join NATO is at least understandable. Wrong, but understandable.
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