What is this?

This is a collection of sources related to the war in Ukraine, mainly focusing on the context leading up to Russia’s escalation in 2022. It consists primarily of Western media articles, as well as articles using Western media to point out contradictions. This is far from being finished and will be updated sporadically.

This thread is being written for those who are already somewhat aware of, and opposed to, US imperialism.

Context for the 2022 escalation

In 2014, the US supported a fascist coup in Ukraine.

Ukraine has a long history of Nazism.

NATO has been expanding toward Russia, despite assurances when East and West Germany were reunited.

NATO has been refusing to abide by agreements, and despite being elected on a peace platform, the Zelensky government has consistently escalated tensions.

Additional sources:

Sources contributed by:

  • cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml
    17·
    1 month ago

    I think Putin, maybe Russia in general, genuinely considers that land as belonging to Russia. I disagree personally. They invaded and made excuses for it but ultimately, he thinks it belongs to Russia. It’s aggression, it’s invasion, but not necessarily imperialism because it’s not about robbing the place blind but about claiming a land and people that he thinks belongs to Russia.

    No. You continue to operate on the basis of the false Western narratives surrounding this conflict. There are enough sources on this post by now which clearly show that land seizure is not what this conflict is about and not Russia’s primary motivation. This conflict is about the existential security threat perceived by Russia as emanating from NATO presence in Ukraine, as well as about the rights of the ethnic Russian population of the Donbass and southern Ukraine.

    For eight years from 2014 to 2022 Russia made every effort to try and restore the Donbass to Ukraine by resolving the conflict via the Minsk agreements. If Ukraine had abided by those agreements rather than attempting to take the Donbass by force, and if the West had taken Russia’s security concerns - which Russia repeated over and over for decades - seriously, Russia would not have had to recognize and subsequently annex the Donbass republics.

    Ukraine then had another chance to avoid further loss of territory in 2022 with the Istanbul negotiations. Russia was prepared to end the conflict and restore everything but the Donbass republics to Ukraine in exchange for serious commitments on neutrality, denazification and demilitarization. The West instead promised Ukraine a blank check if they pulled out of the negotiations, which they did. This resulted in further permanent loss of territory for Ukraine.

    At no point in the history of this conflict has Russia behaved as if their motivation was to take land from Ukraine. This extends even to how they militarily handle the SMO, prioritizing attrition of Ukraine’s forces over taking territory, because it’s not the territory that they want. Their primary goals remain Ukraine’s neutrality, denazification and demilitarization. But the other response is right, this is not the post for this discussion. Please study the sources provided on this post and if you still wish to have this debate open up a separate post for it.