Naturally, Russia is grabbing bits of Ukraine!
[Stephen] Cohen is a longtime and vocal critic of American policy toward Russia. He, like Putin, believes U.S. policy has been provocative ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, starting with the expansion of NATO into former Soviet republics and Soviet satellite nations in Eastern and Central Europe.
Interesting, eh? Sovereign states are defined simply as "former" parts of the Russian empire. And that's the sum total of their history that defines their fate?
Those "satellite" nations were put in orbit by Soviet conquest.
The Baltic states were once independent. And even Ukraine had its own United Nations seat because the USSR insisted Ukraine (and Belarus, too) was an independent state.
Finland, a former province of the Russian empire, should just get with the program, eh?
But no matter. These states now have no right to expect anything other than Russian domination. And we're the "provocative" side for enabling these nations to define their future status in the face of Russian armed aggression.
Mind you, I'm no expert on Russia or professor emeritus at Princeton and New York University, but I do wonder just how far west Russia has to push their borders before the paranoia goes into remission?
Astounding. Echelon above reality.
