If Putin is seriously threatening to go nuclear, then things aren't going well for him. Plus his authority domestically and globally looks shaky following the potential Wagner mutiny. The much-vaunted Red Army looks like they'd struggle to defeat Moldova and Ukraine is now hitting Russia on home soil, causing Putin to laughably label them "terrorists".
I agree that the West is responsible for aggravating Putin into his invasion, but I have zero sympathy for the guy. He's just another authoritarian prick who rules by fear and intimidation and locks up any opposition on ludicrous charges.
@Richard65 indeed. "The West" aggrivated Russia by telling Ukraine it could pursure a future based on democracy and other "western values". It would be a mistake to see this as the west conquering rather the west offers a way of society that other societies seek to emulate. Sure, it's not perfect, but is often better than what they currently have.
@CheekyBadger Politic and Realpolitik is far more complicated than that. There's hundreds of years of ideology and history at play here. The fight against fascism, the post-war landscape, cultural and ideological hegemony, economic growth, promises made, promises broken, handshake deals and back channelling, especially after the wall came down in '89. Your summary is too neat, too black and white. The world doesn't work like that. The word Ukraine is slavic and translates as "the borderland" or "the edge" of a territory. Russia has historically seen Ukraine as a part of its historical territory, that's why they're regarded as brothers and sisters. You can't judge this solely as a westerner, you've got to dig deeper.
@Richard65 Well put! And let's not forget the 3-way treaty!
There's a three-way treaty known as the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
Essentially, Ukraine agreed to give up all its nuclear weapons to Russia in exchange for safety from a U.S. or Russian invasion. Russia's invasion of Ukraine violates that treaty. And as a signatory to that 1994 Budapest Memorandum, the U.S. has a definite interest in righting Putin's current wrongs.
In the final version of the deal, Russia promised not to attack Ukraine. While the U.S. and the U.K. assured Ukraine they would aid if it was attacked by Russia, that promised aid did not guarantee military support like a NATO country would receive.
In 2009, Russia and the U.S. announced that the assurances in the Budapest Memorandum would continue to remain in effect in the future.
Russia promised specifically NOT to invade Ukraine, and the U.S. promised specifically to ASSIST Ukraine if the treaty were ever violated. And that's what the U.S. is doing now.
@ElwoodBlues I would say that part 3 of the agreement states that signatories "Refrain from economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the exercise by Ukraine, the Republic of Belarus and Kazakhstan of the rights inherent in its sovereignty and thus to secure advantages of any kind."
There's a good argument that the US has engaged in a lot of economic coercion of Ukraine to secure huge advantages, which is why Putin initially became edgy, as well as the EU granting Ukraine candidate status for membership in 2022. I know the EU isn't the UK or USA, but I think such moves added to Putin's paranoia about enemies on his doorstep.
There's a good video posted earlier on this thread that makes for interesting viewing.
