The Cold War never ended and criticism of Russia is not criticism against Russians.
If the Cold War was truly over when the wall fell, we'd have welcomed Russia into NATO. That would have been a huge mistake, as Russia has proven to be antithetical to democracy and an aggressor against the interests of the West, despite dressing up in its skirt.
Instead we've engaged in proxy war after proxy war with very little changing in the best part of 40 years or so. That's no accident.
Suggesting otherwise IMO is to take talking points from the mouth of the Kremlin. I get tired of the "Russia is being bullied by the mean ol' United States" narrative, they're malignant and hostile. I think you're right to raise this point.
Absolutely. Most Western leaders (though not all) deluded themselves thinking Russia wanted better relations and that all the problems were somehow the fault of the West. Countless confidence-building measures were taken. Most Western countries reduced defense budgets. Russian leaders, ridiculously claiming that they were threatened by NATO, were dishonest the whole time. As the USSR collapsed, Russia surrounded itself with, and fueled, many "frozen" conflicts: Transnistria in Moldova, Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, Nagorno Karabakh in Azerbaijan, Japanese Islands. Gestures of goodwill, escalation management, appeals to political solutions were seen as weakness by Russia. Putin attacked Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 and 2022 not because he felt threatened in any way, but to the contrary because he thought that no one would do anything about it.
Yeah, everyone made this a comment about a specific candidate. But objectively one candidate is pro-supporting Ukraine and one is against it this time around. Regardless of your prior beliefs, Putin benefits far more from a specific candidate this time around.
And they have repeatedly been caught meddling directly in Western countries (see i.e. multiple assassinations in the West).
Exactly. I treat anyone suggesting Russia should be treated with kid gloves with suspicion. The sentiment that they are being bullied is flatly offensive. Russia made its bed in the 90s and complains about lying in it.
If the Cold War was truly over when the wall fell, we'd have welcomed Russia into NATO. That would have been a huge mistake, as Russia has proven to be antithetical to democracy and an aggressor against the interests of the West, despite dressing up in its skirt.
Instead we've engaged in proxy war after proxy war with very little changing in the best part of 40 years or so. That's no accident.
Suggesting otherwise IMO is to take talking points from the mouth of the Kremlin. I get tired of the "Russia is being bullied by the mean ol' United States" narrative, they're malignant and hostile. I think you're right to raise this point.