On: Finland Becomes a Member of NATO on Tuesday 4 Apri...

[causi]

It was never about NATO. It's about the Bessarabian Gap and the Black Sea. Putin wants the potential invasion routes into Russia.

[lamontcg → causi]

Nobody wants to invade Russia. If that was his reasoning, he's a paranoid senile old man.

[lesuorac → causi]

Whose invading through the Bessarabian Gap or the Black Sea?

Egypt?

- USA is just going to come across either Alaska, the North Pole, or EU allies' military bases.

- UA/Finland/etc are going through their land borders.

- Rest of EU is going to have a problem without sending troops through their neighbors. (And using the Black sea is just a huge detour ...)

- China would use its land border.

[arethuza → lesuorac]

Maybe someone is planning a Crimean War 2 - seems unlikely though! ;-)

[bshipp → causi]

No one was ever going to invade a country with ICBMs.

The invasion occurred because of Ukraine's movement toward the EU which, eventually, would curtail the ability of Putin and the oligarchs to swindle Russias oil and gas wealth through rampant price fixing and kick-backs. Everything else was rhetoric.

[causi → bshipp]

I didn't say it was a reasonable course of action.

[unmole → bshipp]

> The invasion occurred because of Ukraine's movement toward the EU

What meaningful move did Ukraine make towards joining EU to trigger an invasion?

[bshipp → unmole]

You mean beyond the 2014 Maidan Revolution and restoration of the 2004 constitutional modifications that began the process of moving toward the EU? Or the 2019 constitutional amendment that placed joining the EU and NATO as a strategic objective for Ukraine?

[unmole → bshipp]

> r the 2019 constitutional amendment that placed joining the EU and NATO as a strategic objective for Ukraine?

TIL!

[ceejayoz → bshipp]

> Or the 2019 constitutional amendment that placed joining the EU and NATO as a strategic objective for Ukraine?

Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014. Pretending this counts is like charging a rape victim with criminal assault because they fought back.

[bshipp → ceejayoz]

Please don't misunderstand me, Ukraine is a sovereign country with the right to choose their own destiny. The only blame to be assigned is on Russia.

I was just outlining the timeline and showing that their desire to join EU/NATO was not something dreamt up post-2022.