I support Ukraine.
Yet have misgivings as to how it came to this. It was avoidable, but as long as people toe the NATO is untouchable line then war is the result.
As you may recall from the EU debate, I supported an EU armed forces independent of NATO who could act as a counter balance, but the anti-EU armed sentiments in the debate were huge, have you considered why?
You need to get back to basics.
Powerful countries dominate weak countries, particularly if the weak country is in close proximity, or have stuff the powerful country wants. The Kaiser's Germany was the most powerful country in central Europe, it was her destiny to dominate the continent, the logic of power dictated it.
The logic of power dictates that the strong bend the weak to their will.
Then along comes liberal democracy and capitalism.
For all its flaws liberal democracy and capitalism throws a spanner in the works. Liberal democracy curbs the excesses of powerful countries. So Mexico and Canada might well dance to America's tune, but not entirely and not all the time and more importantly not in fear.
Powerful capitalist forces might well exploit the weak, but in the 21st Century global economy creating consumers in poor weak countries, is becoming more important than stealing their resources and using them for cheap labour.
This causes a dilemma for Putin, a man obsessed with the past and a 19th century concept of empire.
Bizarrely Putin sees the West as weak, decadent, obsessed with material comforts, yet at the same time, in a disturbing act of Orwellian doublethink, believes the USA is pursuing the same logic of power as he is, only by other means.
He wails that the West denies the logic of power only to Russia! That the USA dominates the world with her military bases, her NATO, her Starbucks and iPhones yet denies Russia's destiny to do the same in her own backyard!
That is the root of his fixation that Russia is always the victim, hemmed in by her enemies
Putin believes he is being completely rational, that by reclaiming the Russian Empire he's merely pursuing the immutable logic of power. Russia must take her rightful place as the dominant power in the region, her will all powerful, that is simply the natural order of things and for the west to deny this is an act of hypocrisy and hostility towards Russia.
Putin is more akin to the Kaiser than Hitler or Stalin.
