A Russian view of why this mess got started in Ukraine...

 Basic 101.  Try to understand the enemies intentions and motivations.  Notice I didn't say you had to AGREE with them but it is most helpful to understand them.

Many of the non-thinking folks that comment here don't seem to understand that.  Awesome.  They can "you do you" thing while I seek to get a better understanding of this thing.

For those in the audience that are like me and want to get an inkling of why this kicked off from the Russian perspective I invite you to read an e-mail that I received.

NOTE AGAIN (this is for the slow people in class)!  I don't necessarily agree but I DO WANT TO KNOW Russian motivations!

You asked your tribe why the attack now and you got the usual nonsense about putting the USSR back together. That is nonsense. There are a number of reasons why this has happened.

The first was the over throw of the Ukrainian government by the US a few years ago and the imposition of some one that answers to the US. That was followed by NATO countries starting to ship more and more advanced weapons into Ukrain in violations of agreements. TB2 being one of the big ones.  That was followed up by Boris the clown sending a UK destroyer practically into Sevestopol.  Russians should have sunk it,

The second is the endless ramping up of sanctions. This is an act of war. Germany and France both tried to prevent the end of NordStream 2 as Europe desperately needs it. The US didn't care and made it clear that they were killing it and the whole "The Russians are coming the Russians are coming" was all about killing NS2. Russia said it wasn't going to happen, Ukraine said it wasn't going to happen, Frannce, Germany the Scandanavian countries, Ireland all asked the US for proof that the Russians were going in and the US wouldn't provide it. If you remember about a week ago the WH spokes man was challenged on it by a reporter and he gave the "The dog ate my home work"  answer.  This BS pushed by Washington has been kiliing the Ukraine economy and Zelinski has told Biden repeatedly to STFU.

The third was the endless shelling of the Russian speaking population by the Nazis in Ukraine. This one can not be over stated.

Next was the US abandoning the nuclear agreements.

But the final straw was twoi things that Zelinski said. The first is that Ukraine would never honour the Minsk Protocol. Putin has been  begging and begging and begging for the signatories of the Minsk agreements to honour their word and implement it. If they had this would be over already. Instead Zelinski said in the last week that he would never honour it. That left no solution possible for the shelling of the Russian population in Donbas.

But the final straw was when Zelinsy went to the security summit last week and spent the whole fucking day telling any one that would listen that if the west didn't give into Ukrrins black mail that Ukraine would get nuclear weapons and station then a couple of hundred miles from Moscow.  Some one from NATO should have kicked him in the nuts, shoved him in a trunk and sunk it in a river. But no one said shit.  A couple of days later the tanks were rolling.

You have spoken to the Russians on your board. Every one is in agreement about not wanting Ukaine even the Donbas regions as part of Russia.  Russia has allready stated the terms to turn Ukrain back  but now as independent unarmed states..

Make no mistake Ukraine is in even worse economic shape than Lebanon, Syria or Turkey. It will take billions to stabilize it. It should default on it's loans in the next 2 weeks unless the west comes up with billions more. The only thing  the Russians want from Ukraine is for the shelling of the Russian population to stop and for it to be a neutral country. That could have been done at any time. Instead the absolute shit head Blinken got stupid and now all of Europe is in chaos.