In 2013-14 the US sponsored a soft coup in Ukraine while Russia was occupied putting on the Winter Olympics. We discussed this at length in 2014 on this board. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that people have forgotten the facts over the last 10 years of being in their increasingly cloistered echo chambers.
2014 was either a great win for Obama - if you accepted the view that Obama shifted most of Ukraine from the Russian sphere of influence to the Western sphere of influence . . . Or it was a craven failure by Obama when he allowed Russia to take Crimea and to support separatists in portions of eastern Ukraine.
Whichever view you held then, the 2014 tally was a clear win for the West.
Post-2014 Ukraine wanted to join the EU and NATO. They didn't meet the requirements, but were encouraged to follow paths that would take them toward those goals.
It was never going to be a quick process, but when Ukraine made the intent to join NATO the law of the land, Putin clearly saw that as a deliberate breach of prior agreements, encouraged by the West.
Please note that I'm not saying that justifies Russia's invasion. Obviously it doesn't to us but does to Putin. I shouldn't have to point that out. But in these days of FOX truths vs MSNBC truths vs actual truths, it seems necessary.
